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Food Stamp Cut For Some Ohioans Is Softened

Thousands of Ohio food stamp users are getting some good news --- their monthly food stamp allotment WON’T be cut as severely as earlier planned. Ben Johnson of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services explains.

"The $50 reduction will now be more like a $20 reduction for families that receive food stamps and take the standard utility allowance," says Johnson.  "The reason for that change is that we went back to the US Department of Agriculture and asked them to recalculate the standard utility allowance and take into account the costs of electric heat and of propane, and we're very appreciative of the USDA.  They worked really closely with us on this last week, and we were able to make the change."

Food stamp officials say they don’t know YET how many Ohio households will be impacted by this softened cutback in food stamp allotments, but we DO know that about 800-thousand Ohio households currently receive food stamps.