Millions under US food aid programme face cuts

Millions of Americans covered under a government aid programme face cut in benefits from next month as the temporary measure to fund it in its present form expires Oct 31, Press TV reported Sunday.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme (SNAP), also known as the food stamp programme, covers some 48 million Americans, half of them children and teenagers.

The average benefit is currently about $275 per household per month and a family of four with no changes in circumstance will receive $36 less per month, US Department of Agriculture was quoted as saying.

"For those of us who spend $1.70 a day on a latte this doesn't seem like a big change, but it does kind of really highlight the millions of families living on an extremely modest food budget," Stacy Dean, vice president for food assistance policy at the Centre on Budget and Policy Priorities, said.

The House of Representatives last month voted to cut food stamps funding by $39 billion over the next decade. The Congressional Budget office estimated that such a level of cuts would cause up to 3.8 million people to lose food stamp benefits in 2014.