Debate Over Food-Stamp Financing Hits Home in Rural Tenn.

The New York Times examines the congressional debate over cutting the budget for food stamps through the experience of families in a Tennessee community that receive federal nutrition aid.

Dyersburg, Tenn., is in the district of Rep. Stephen Fincher, a Tea Party-backed Republican who earlier this year voted for a farm bill that omitted support for food stamps. Congress is due to take up the debate again as it returns to work next week, with Republicans seeking to scale back the program as a deficit-reduction measure and Democrats resisting the cuts.

The Department of Agriculture released survey data Wednesday showing that 49 million Americans were living in “food insecure” households, and experts say the problem is particularly acute in rural areas. In Dyer County, which includes Dyersburg, 19.4 percent of residents were food insecure in 2011, three points higher than the national average, according to an analysis by antihunger charity Feeding America.