An interactive map by Stateline tracks exactly where the hardest food stamps cuts — which went into effect on Nov. 1 — are hitting. The Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program (SNAP) supplements food budgets for approximately 47 million Americans and was reduced by $5 billion in reductions. The $5 billion in increased benefits were a temporary boost that was part of the 2009 federal stimulus package and provided relief to single income households with children and the elderly and disabled.

NPR reports the following:

This map reveals surprises. For example, in Oregon, not often considered as a high need state, 21 percent of Oregon’s population relies on food stamps. That figure includes 304,000 children and 159,000 elderly and disabled people whose food stamps have been cut.

 

In Mississippi, 307,000 children and 119,000 elderly and disabled people have been affected; 22 percent of Mississippi’s population rely on food stamps. 

Texas saw cuts of $411 million dollars, and affected a whopping 2,360,000 children and 672,000 elderly and disabled people.

Noted by NPR:

Another fact that jumps out when looking at the map: While Republicans have led the call to slash the SNAP program in the House, many of the states whose residents are most reliant on food stamps are reliably Republican and located in the GOP’s Southern heartland. About 20 percent of the population in Tennessee, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, and South Carolina, for instance, receive benefits from the federal food assistance program.

 

To use the map and see more data, visit the Stateline website.

Image via Wikimedia Commons

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Tiffany Willis is the founder and editor-in-chief of Liberal America. Subscribe to her public updates on Facebook, follow her on Twitter, or connect with her via LinkedIn.