Witness to Hunger Barbie Izquierdo was featured yesterday on the BBC World Business News podcast with Alex Ritson. Click here to hear Barbie (from 0:47 to 3:10) discuss the recent decision by U.S. lawmakers to cut food stamps by up to $12 billion in coming years to help pay for the $26 billion 'Edujobs' bill.
The bill, which was passed by the House on Tuesday and signed into law hours later by President Barack Obama, has been praised by many for its aid to state payrolls--it is expected to save the jobs of up to 300,000 state workers, many of them teachers. Yet as Barbie and Carey Morgan of the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger explain on the program, the bill is funded in part by cuts to food stamps, literally taking money out of the hands of America's poorest families (Carey Morgan is featured from 3:11 to 5:12).
Click here for a CBS news analysis of the Edujobs bill and its cuts to food stamps.