ANN ARBOR, MI (MPRN)-- Congress is scheduled to return to work a week after the mid-term elections, and there’s one item many Michigan charities hope they take up first.
The federal farm bill expired earlier this month. Among the issues Senate and House members could not agree to involved work requirements to the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, also known as SNAP.
The Senate passed a bill in June giving SNAP recipients three months to find a job. The House version would only give them one month.
Mike Larson is president and CEO of the Michigan Association of United Ways. He prefers the Senate version.
“We obviously know—any of us who’ve looked for a job—it’s not easy to find a job in month,” he says.
Larson hopes the House will agree to the Senate bill during its lame duck session, rather than let the bill die and put the food aid many Michiganders rely on at risk.