Despite U.S. Offer, City Stands Firm on Food Stamps

Despite U.S. Offer, City Stands Firm on Food Stamps

By JULIE BOSMAN

A provision in President Obama’s stimulus package, extending food stamp benefits for able-bodied adults, has revived a dispute in New York City between Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and advocates for the poor.

The provision overturns a 1996 rule limiting able-bodied adults who have no dependents to three months of food stamps in a three-year period. But the Bloomberg administration said on Tuesday that nothing had changed and that it was not obligated to extend benefits to anyone not enrolled in the Work Experience Program, a workfare program that provides temporary jobs, usually in city agencies.

While cities and states are allowed under the stimulus provision to require participation in such workfare programs, advocates for the poor decried the policy as unwise and counterproductive, particularly as the recession swells the ranks of the jobless who need help buying groceries.

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