Missouri cuts off food-stamp benefits for 26,000 adults

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — About 26,000 Missouri residents have lost government food-stamp benefits for failing to comply with work and job-training responsibilities.

Requirements that took effect at the start of this year limited some adults to three months of benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, unless they spent 80 hours a month in work or job-skills programs.

The requirements apply to able-bodied adults ages 18 through 49 who don’t have children or other dependents in their homes.

The Department of Social Services said about 26,000 people lost benefits April 1 for not meeting those requirements. More could lose benefits in the coming months.

The work rules are part of a 1996 federal welfare reform law. But they had been waived in most states following the recession until unemployment rates declined.