Food stamps — actually the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — go to 47 million Americans a month, almost half of them children and teenagers.
"Every week is a struggle as it is," said Heidi Leno, 43, who lives in Concord with her husband, 9-year-old daughter and twin 5-year-olds. "We hate living paycheck to paycheck and you have to decide what gets paid."
Starting in 2009, the federal stimulus pumped $45.2 billion into SNAP, increasing what would have been a monthly benefit of $588 a month to $668 for an average household of four. In November, that same family will start getting $632 a month, about a 5 percent cut.
The monthly benefits, which go to 1 in 7 Americans, fluctuate based on factors including food prices, income and inflation.
Families and providers worry the expiration of the stimulus bump comes at a particularly bad time:
— Though census figures from September show poverty remains stuck at around 22 percent, in some states, including New Hampshire, the number of children living in poverty is climbing.
