The man who administers much of the social services system in Massachusetts is going to live for the next week on a food budget equal to what is provided by a federal assistance program.
Massachusetts Health and Human Services Secretary John Polanowicz and his wife Kathleen went shopping at a Sav-A-Lot grocery store in Springfield on Wednesday limited to a per person budget of $31.50 ,the average benefit under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The program, colloquially known as food stamps, is facing billions of dollars in cuts as the U.S. House debates the farm bill. Across the country advocates for the program are calling attention to its importance by eating for a week only what they can pay for under the program. In Massachusetts, one in eight people, roughly 880,000, receive SNAP benefits.
