U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has lashed out at Gov. Paul LePage for reducing the number of people on food stamps the wrong way. Vilsack told The Huffington Post on Wednesday that the LePage administration has simply kicked people out of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program without doing enough to help them achieve financial independence.
“I think he’s looking for a shortcut, he’s looking for a way of making it easy on the state,” said Vilsack. “I’m happy when we reduce the rolls the right way: I’m happy when someone gets a job.”
According to the article, states are in the process of removing about a million people from the federal food assistance program as part of federal requirements that are kicking in as the Great Recession fades in the rear-view mirror. But states such as Maine and Kansas are doing it too fast and incorrectly, according to Vilsack, who claims Maine used only 74 percent of a pot of money in 2015 designated by the feds for employment and training programs.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.