Social Services Funding

Retirees Strike Back Against Romney's Remarks Over 'Dependent' Seniors

Edward F. Coyle, Executive Director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, has this response to Mitt Romney's views on those who look for government support: "Mitt Romney's offensive comments show his true colors, a callous indifference to millions of hard-working Americans. "No, Mitt Romney, r ... More >>

Paul Ryan Uses His Own Mama to Defuse Medicare Drama

In Rep. Paul Ryan's 'The Path to Prosperity' budget, Medicare, the health insurance program that is loved by older Americans and hated by deficit hawks, will cease to exist some time around 2022. The program - a lasting stipulation of Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society - will be transformed into a vo ... More >>

Medical Marijuana: Can Weed Help You Get Food Stamps?

In Oregon, some medical marijuana users can deduct the cost of prescription pot from their income to qualify for food stamps, according to The Associated Press. How does this work?

BREAKING: Supreme Court Has Upheld Individual Mandate, Handing Obama Huge Victory on Healthcare Law

We're listening to the Brian Lehrer show and reading SCOTUSblog's liveblog as the Supreme Court sits for what will probably be the final time of this term. And...SCOTUSblog is saying that the mandate has survived as a tax, and that Chief Justice John Roberts has joined the left in this ruling. The ... More >>

Senator Bill Perkins Actually Voted Against Ban On Spending Welfare Money On Cigs, Booze and Strippers

A bill that would ban spending welfare money on "sins" like cigarettes, booze, strippers and gambling sailed through the New York State Senate yesterday, which is no surprise. The fact that some legislators actually voted against the bill, however, is absolutely shocking.One of the few lawmakers to ... More >>

Should Welfare Recipients Be Allowed To Use Public Assistance Cash To Buy Junk Food?

Yesterday, we told you about a piece of legislation proposed by an Upstate lawmaker that would ban welfare recipients from using public assistance money to pay for "sin activities" like gambling, strippers, alcohol and cigarettes. In response to our post, a reader posed an interesting question: if t ... More >>

Bad News, Impoverished Sinners: Lawmakers Want To Ban Buying Cigs And Booze With Welfare Money

As un-fucking-believable as it may sound, welfare recipients in New York currently are allowed to spend public-assistance money on things like cigarettes, booze, and strippers -- but hopefully not for long.A bill has been introduced in the state Senate that would ban welfare recipients from using pu ... More >>

Andrew Cuomo: New Yorkers Will No Longer Need Fingers To Get Food Stamps

Good news for the nutritionally challenged: you'll soon no longer need fingers to get food stamps.Governor Andrew Cuomo announced today that the wheels are in motion to do away with a policy that requires food stamp recipients to submit their fingerprints to the government. The policy is considered ... More >>

Karaoke For The Blind? Jewish Guild Axes Music Therapy Due To Budget Woes, Pays For Karaoke No One Can See (Part 3)

Part 3 in a series. (Part 1 is here, part 2 here.) Despite being axed by the Jewish Guild for the Blind after working as their part-time music therapist for two decades, and despite having the organization lie to her clients that she cancelled on them, music therapist Debbie Moran is lobbying on ... More >>

New Study Finds Food Stamps Help Reduce Poverty

Finally, there's some good news about food stamps that doesn't have to do with fraud or Octomoms. A new study released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that the food stamp program (SNAP) reduced the poverty rate by eight percent in 2009.

Jesse Jackson Slams Newt Gingrich Over Food Stamps

And the food-stamp fracas continues! The Reverend Jesse Jackson has just blasted Newt Gingrich for his comments that Barack Obama is a "food stamp" president, and has come out against the Republican presidential hopeful, telling Politico: "Food stamps (are the) lifeline for many Americans -- they h ... More >>

Mike Bloomberg to Cuomo: Don't Bring Us Back to the Bad Old Days Before Food Stamps Fingerprinting

​Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants to go back to the "bad old days" and Mayor Michael Bloomberg won't stand for it. That's what Bloomberg said this morning on his weekly appearance on WOR's "The John Gambling Show," when discussing food stamps policy. This latest governor-mayor showdown concerns Cuomo ... More >>

Kirsten Gillibrand Launches 2012 With a Call for Increased Food Stamp Money, Better Access to Fresh Food

Electeds like to talk -- but U.S. Sen. Kirsten ​Gillibrand came to the Bronx today to listen. That's what Gillibrand said at the launch of an event this morning at Hostos Community College, where she joined Rep. Joe Crowley for a "listening session" on an upcoming Farm Bill, which Congre ... More >>

Food Stamp Spending Surges at City Greenmarkets

More and more food stamps are getting spent at the city's farmers' markets -- and on healthy items such as fresh produce -- according to an exclusive report by NY1.

Millionaires on Food Stamps?

​A new GOP-backed bill would prevent super-rich people from getting food stamps, even though they already can't, The New York Times reports.

Cops: Food Stamps Traded for Blow and Cash

Not a positive idea. ​So you can't use food stamps to go to Hawaii -- but you might be able to feed your cocaine habit with them. Cops in Lynn, Mass. -- a Boston suburb -- say eight people used Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program(SNAP) benefits for coke and cash, according to the Bosto ... More >>

Newt Gingrich: Obama Is the "Finest Food Stamp" President

​Newt Gingrich thinks Barack Obama is a bad president -- for helping more poor Americans eat. Thing is, Obama isn't exactly responsible for recent, record-setting numbers of food-stamp beneficiaries. Gingrich, who wants to run on the Republican ticket in the 2012 presidential election, has ... More >>

Newt Gingrich: Pay for Your Next Vacation with Food Stamps

If you are too poor to buy food but have always dreamed of visiting the South Pacific, don't worry: You can pay for your groceries -- and your next Hawaiian vacation -- with food stamps. Actually, that's not true -- not even close to being true -- but Newt Gingrich, who wants to rep the GOP in the ... More >>

More Vets Seek Food Stamps

​What better way to start your day than with sobering news? Turns out, the downturn economy hasn't just prompted more everyday Americans to apply for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program -- formerly known as food stamps.

Fast-Food Chains Serve Booze; No Link Found Between Ham and Cancer

​A larger-than-expected corn crop this season has set off a sharp decline in prices, which could deter food inflation. Corn rose to a high of $7.99 per bushel in June. [NY Times] Fast-food chains are getting their booze on. In addition to Burger King's Whopper Bars, two Sonic restaurants in S ... More >>

Acting Prickly

You can't stop us from picking plants, crops

Bloomberg's Food-Stamp Soda Ban: Illegal, Immoral, Fattening?

​If you've been remotely awake today (or at least clicking on your morning Runnin' Scared links), you're no doubt aware that Mayor Bloomberg has asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to allow New York City to bar its 1.7 million citizens with food-stamp cards from using them to buy soda. "T ... More >>

David Paterson Vetoes His Way to Tabloid Glory

​David Paterson would have you believe that he did the only responsible thing by vetoing almost 7,000 appropriation bills passed by his former Democratic colleagues in the Legislature. He is even taking a veto victory tour, sustained by the fact that the Republican minority in the State Senate ... More >>

Mike Bloomberg Draws Praise for the Same Budget Decisions That Reap Tabloid Ridicule for Shelly Silver

The recently passed Bloomberg and state legislative budgets each contained precisely the same, optimistic assumption that New York would get hundreds of millions of additional federal Medicaid funds even though the bill to provide the windfall was stalled in Congress. The Daily News said Bloomber ... More >>

The Post's "Welfare" Fraud

​If you read the Which Lazy Bastards Are Ripping You Off section of yesterday's tabloids — you can find it after the Who Is Sandra Bullock Not Sleeping With/Adopting section — you may have spotted the story that the Post headlined "Millionaires' welfare 'con' ": The Brooklyn DA's o ... More >>

The Bronx tops food stamp list

New York Times graphic​Bronx County, with a 13.3% unemployment rate, has joined Hidalgo County, TX as the US counties of their size with the greatest share of people receiving food stamps at 29%. Nationally, 1 in 8 adults and one in 4 children are using food stamps, according to data collected ... More >>

East Harlem Costco Open; 2,000 Get Free Memberships

​At East River Plaza, just off the FDR Drive at East 116th Street, Manhattan's first Costco opened today. The famous high-volume low-prices price-club chain already had stores in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island; Manhattan's zoning and community boards have traditionally made it a slightly ... More >>

More Tainted Meat; Illy Serves Starbucks

​ A new study reveals that half of American kids will live in households receiving food stamps before age 20. One in five will live on food stamps for years, while a number of kids will live in families who have to turn to food stamps during a short-term crisis. [USA Today] Spoiled meat alert ... More >>

Paterson Releases Delicious Stimulus $ Report: NYC Gets $8.16 Billion

Governor Paterson released a report today showing where the $18 billion that New York State got in stimulus money is going. You'll be pleased to hear that the counties comprising New York City receive by far the most American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds -- $8.16 billion. Hooray! Secon ... More >>

Welfare Goes Up a Couple of Bucks

Good news, freeloaders -- your welfare checks are going up by as much as 38 dollars! The Times reports the monthly stipend for a family of four just went up from $375.70 to $413.70. It's the first such increase in nineteen years. Diabetic single recipient Georgeanna Hicks, 54, gets an extra $13 t ... More >>

Upper White Trash: The Joy of Food Stamps

(Editor's note: this dispatch is from a middle-aged, college-educated Manhattan resident who has given the hell up and gone on welfare. Some weeks back he described the process of signing up for the dole.) Despite all the waiting and the hassle of dealing with a bureaucracy, the one bright spot of ... More >>

CNN Dude Living on Food Stamps

(art courtesy of cnn.com)CNN's Sean Callebs is spending a month living on food stamps in an interesting fusion of recession coverage, foodie blog, and CNN kookiness (if you've ever watched American Morning, you'll know what I mean). In Louisiana, where Callebs lives and works, one out of every six ... More >>

Upper White Trash: Going on the Dole

(Editor's note: the following dispatch is from a middle-aged, college-educated Manhattan resident who has just given the hell up and gone on welfare. He offers these notes as a cautionary tale, or as a how-to -- whichever way you want to take it.) Recent events have forced me to seek government ass ... More >>

Wayne Barrett: Plaxico, You Should Have Worked for Bloomberg

Eating with the Pols: Council Member Eric Gioia

NYPD Gets Raises, More Perks in New Contract

Bloomberg's Cash-Back Plan for Poor

Breakfast with George McGovern

Morning Report 7/31/05
Missed Connections

NYC: Must Work For Food

Where The Welfare Queens Went

Morning Report 3/29/05: Antisocial Security

From Security to Risk in One Easy Bush Plan

President trades American promise for a Wall Street gamble

Forget Your Problems, We're Preparing for a War

The Battle of 2016

Progressives and Bush’s Wall Street Go to War Over Your Social Security Benefits

Saving the Safety Net

Advocates Mobilize to Revamp Federal Welfare Law

Inside Apartment A42

Inside Apartment A42

A Homeless Family Confronts the City’s New Work-for-Shelter Rules 

Civil War

Impeachment Hawks Eye Death of New Deal