APNewsBreak: 9,000 Mainers lose food stamps under new rules

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

APNewsBreak: 9,000 Mainers lose food stamps under new rules
By ALANNA DURKIN, Associated Press | March 24, 2015 | Updated: March 24, 2015 5:28pm

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — More than 9,000 Maine residents have been removed from the state's food stamp program since Republican Gov. Paul LePage's administration began enforcing work and volunteer requirements late last year, officials said.

The number of people that have been dropped from the program has exceeded even the administration's expectations.

About 12,000 adults who aren't disabled and don't have children were in the program before Jan. 1. That number has dropped to 2,680 this month, David Sorensen, spokesman for the Department of Health and Services, told The Associated Press.

Advocates for the poor say there aren't enough jobs and volunteer positions available to recipients, especially in rural areas, forcing them to lose their benefits and turn instead to their local food banks.


Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/APNewsBreak-9-000-Mainers-lose-food-stamps-under-6155882.php

[dbackjon]

1. This makes Republican Jesus very happy

[Iliyah]

2. Fake news, ALEC, Kochs and GOP congress will give him a trophy as the ideal

true conservative. Eat your heart out Cruz, Paul, Walker, and the rest of the GOP's governors.

[rhett o rick]

3. k & r. Thanks for posting. nm

[L0oniX]

4. Oh come on now ...we all need to sacrifice so we can give more money to NuttyYahoo and for war.

[workinclasszero]

5. You say the poor don't have any food to eat?

Let them eat cake!

And there folks is the religious right republican plan for running america into the damn ground.

If you are not rich, fuck off and die already!

Get it?

I wonder how many of those 9000 people voted in the last election? Course the poor kids will suffer for the screw up of their parents as always.

[freethought]

6. Even in good times good jobs in Maine can be

hard to find. Many of them are seasonal that ebb and flow with the tourists. The farther north you go it can get even harder.
Go into the northwestern part of the state and things can get very remote indeed.
I lived on the mid-coast of Maine for 6 years. If you can find gainful full-time employment, all the power to you. It's a great place to live and raise a family. Some times that' s the price paid for living in a beautiful rural area, it's great for the soul but hard to make a living.
Last I recall, most of the college grads in the state are going to leave.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Didn't know about this. Thank you for filling in the blanks. Very sad news. n/t

[kairos12]

7. Do these people suddenly not need food? Teabag scumbag policies.

[Cryptoad]

8. As if Life wasnt hard enough in Maine ! geeez.

[hopemountain]

9. disgusting.

[Midnight Writer]

10. If Stephen King would just pay his damn taxes

Ironic to hear a Republican Governor slur a rich man for supposedly NOT paying his share of taxes. I thought that was the whole economic program of the Republicans.