Food Stamps

The Maryland Department of Human Resources will step up efforts to find people who sell their food stamps for cash or otherwise defraud the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, under a pilot program with the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday. The agencies will sign enhanced data sharing agreements to monitor the more than 754,000 Marylanders who receive food stamps and the nearly 3,800 retailers that accept the benefits. Virginia will also participate in the initiative, which will gradually expand to other states over time.

The president is voluntarily giving 5 percent of his yearly salary back to the U.S. Treasury in order to show solidarity with government workers forced to take unpaid leaves due to what he calls the catastrophic effects of the sequestration ("President's pay cut," April 4.) Through this meaningless symbolic gesture he wants us to know that he shares our pain. I wonder if the president will apply for food stamps next, or a Section 8 housing voucher. He reminds me of an old Latin saying: Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus - "the mountain groaned loudly in great labor, then bore a tiny mouse.

Carroll County's public assistance and food stamp recipients, approximately 1,500 of them, didn't get welfare checks or food stamps in the mail this month.Instead, they got new cards that allow them to withdraw cash from MOST automatic teller machines and pay with plastic at the supermarket.The conversion "is going very well, considering," said David Ensor, assistant director for income maintenance at the Carroll County Department of Social Services.He said the staff found only a few glitches, such as incorrect codes entered into the computer.

It's a heartbreaking decision that thousands of devoted pet owners are forced to make every year: pay the bills or feed the dog or cat? The choice between paying for heat, water, or groceries and buying a bag of pet food is all too real for many families and as a result, many dogs and cats end up in shelters -- not because they weren't loved, but because they were just too expensive. New York entrepreneur Marc Okon decided to turn the sad trend into something positive and in late February launched Pet Food Stamps , a nonprofit organization that offers assistance to families who can't afford food for their animals.

As an organization working to end childhood hunger in Maryland, Share Our Strength appreciates your editorial about the merits of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ("Food stamp recipients are the new welfare queens," Dec. 4). Three-quarters of all SNAP benefits go to families with kids. Over time, SNAP has proven to be efficient, effective and fraud is at a historic low. Critical federal child nutrition programs like SNAP and school breakfast are vital to the well being of America's children.

In Baltimore City, 1 in 8 families with young children are "food insecure," and 20 percent of all residents live in poverty. More than half a million Marylanders get help affording food through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). In fact, SNAP, or what we used to call food stamps, enrolled 45 million people nationwide this year, a leap from 25 million in 2008. Shouldn't SNAP participants in Baltimore - or other cities - be able to spend their SNAP dollars on nutritious, locally produced food?

The state's Department of Human Resources was officially awarded $1.4 million Friday from the federal government for increasing by 44 percent the number of people receiving food stamps. Maryland enrolled more participants for food stamps than any other state for the one-year period ending in September 2008, and has more than 527,000 people receiving the federal benefits. Human Resources Secretary Brenda Donald credited the increase to targeted outreach effort by the department's workers, including a focus on the elderly and the homeless who were eligible but not receiving assistance.

Regarding your editorial about Newt Gingrich's remarks on race, I am writing to thank you for confirming what I was thinking ("Newt the demagogue," Jan. 20). I knew I was not crazy. It is amazing that in 2012 we are still having conversations about racism. I thought we had made a lot of progress, but the current GOP race has shown otherwise. What Mr. Gingrich and his wife paid in federal taxes last year some people won't see in 30 years of working. I am not condemning him and his wife, but they just don't get it. Nor does Mitt Romney, with his overseas accounts.

Five months into a court order requiring the state to speed up delivery of food stamps and medical benefits to low-income residents, Department of Human Resources officials say more Marylanders are getting those services at a quicker pace. As of the end of May, the compliance rate for food stamps was about 89 percent, up 6 percentage points from the beginning of February, according to the DHR. The compliance rate for the Maryland Children's Health Insurance program was 85.7 percent, up 6 percentage points; and the rate for the Temporary Cash Assistance program was 93.8 percent, up about 5 percentage points since February.

Tens of thousands of people in Baltimore who use food stamps to buy groceries can now do their shopping at the Baltimore Farmers' Market and Bazaar under the Jones Falls Expressway, thanks to a new token system launched Sunday. Customers who don't have cash at the fresh-produce market off East Saratoga Street can now swipe their debit cards to make purchases as well. At a public opening of the market's new welcome center, where debit and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

The Maryland Department of Human Resources will step up efforts to find people who sell their food stamps for cash or otherwise defraud the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, under a pilot program with the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday. The agencies will sign enhanced data sharing agreements to monitor the more than 754,000 Marylanders who receive food stamps and the nearly 3,800 retailers that accept the benefits. Virginia will also participate in the initiative, which will gradually expand to other states over time.

Any plan that provides a path to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants will not be complete unless it includes a repayment plan for all the benefits provided to them by American taxpayers ("Migrant worker plan in works," Feb. 22). This includes food stamps, Medicaid and especially our public school systems. Maryland spends an average of $11,000 per pupil per school year, which is funded by taxpayers whether or not they have children. The only group in America that is exempt from contributing to school funding is illegal immigrants.

In the first two weeks after Hurricane Sandy battered the Mid-Atlantic region, leaving millions without power, relief agencies provided an estimated 4.9 million meals to the victims - the equivalent of 150 tractor-trailer loads of food. That was a Herculean task for which those workers should be congratulated, but it was also a drop in the proverbial bucket. Had Sandy never hit the region, there would still be hunger of shocking proportions. In Maryland alone, the latest estimates are that at least 460,000 people are "food insecure," meaning they are not certain to have adequate nutrition on a day-to-day basis.

President Obama constantly speaks of rebuilding America's middle class, but by expanding welfare, Social Security and other entitlement programs he is actually building a lower class that is dependent on the Democratic Party for its survival. This type of candy-man politics was very effective in securing inner-city votes for Mr. Obama and other Democratic candidates in the November election. During the campaign season I heard the different battle cries many times: "Don't vote for Romney, he is going to cut food stamps!"

Letter writer Ilene O'Connell says she "has never been more ashamed" of her country than she was on the evening of Election Day ("Ashamed of country that re-elected Obama," Nov. 8). She asks, "How can people ignore the doubling of the price of gasoline, the 23 million unemployed, the increase in the number of people receiving food stamps, and the soaring deficit over the four years [President Barack] Obama has been in office?" The answer is "Obstructionism. " She should be ashamed instead of the party whose top goal was "to make Obama a one-term president" (Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell)

In 2008, I was surprised when the country elected Barack Obama as president. He had no qualifying experience, and the public didn't really know him. But Tuesday night was worse. How can people ignore the doubling of the price of gasoline, the 23 million unemployed, the increase in the number of people receiving food stamps and the soaring deficit over the four years Mr. Obama has been in office? At the risk of sounding like Michelle Obama, I have never been more ashamed of my country than I was on the evening of Election Day. Ilene O'Connell, Baltimore

The nation's food stamp program is an essential part of the American safety net. Why? Because people can't be productive - in school, at work or looking for work - if they are hungry and fearful about not having enough food to feed their families. The program serves 46 million people, almost as many people as Medicare. And that's despite the fact that more than one-third of those eligible for the benefit are not receiving it. If all those who qualified for food stamps enrolled in the program, it would include 20 percent to 25 percent of Americans.

GOP candidate Newt Gingrich announced last week he was running for president and, hours later, he was accused of being a racist -- or at least of using coded racist slurs  due to his calling President Barack Obama "the food stamp president. "  (See Joan Walsh's article in Salon here for additional details.)  NBC's David Gregory confronted Gingrich about his use of the phrase on "Meet the Press" Sunday. Here's how Gingrich responded:  "That's bizarre," he said.

It was a clear sign the campaign has gone on too long when I had a dream about Mitt Romney a couple of nights ago. Other than the fact that the Romney summoned from my unconscious was sitting at a breakfast table with me and was willingly answering questions, the dream was pretty realistic. The candidate was dressed in his ubiquitous Brooks Brothers checked shirt and relaxed-fit jeans. He seemed relaxed, too. But when I asked him a softball question about the personal strains of campaigning, he answered with a generic policy statement.

Some may be shocked by Steve Kilar's recent story highlighting the fact that one in four Baltimore residents live in poverty, and that many more struggle just above the outdated official poverty line ("Baltimore's poverty rate unchanged at 1 in 4 residents," Sept. 20). The 28 organizations that comprise the Maryland Alliance for the Poor see the impact of widespread poverty every day in their programs and clinics. The realities of poverty in Baltimore are stark: 11.1 percent of the labor force is officially unemployed, and even those who work full-time at the minimum wage have incomes below the poverty line.