Vox Sentences: 700,000 people are about to lose food stamps

Dennis M. Rivera Pichardo/Washington Post/Getty Images

SNAP restrictions will take food stamps away from 700,000; Iran admits to shooting “rioters” during violent protests.

Vox Sentences is your daily digest for what’s happening in the world. Sign up for the Vox Sentences newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday, or view the Vox Sentences archive for past editions.

Trump limits SNAP food stamp benefits

A new Trump administration rule would make it harder for states to waive work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which could lead to hundreds of thousands of people losing their benefits. [NPR / Pam Fessler and Rachel Treisman]
Childless adults who aren’t working or enrolled in education or training at least part-time can get SNAP for only three months in a three-year time period. But states have been able to waive that requirement at the county level. [Washington Post / Laura Reiley]
Beginning April 2020, a county will only be able to waive the requirement if its unemployment rate is at least 6 percent — saving $12.8 billion by cutting benefits for about 700,000 people, according to estimates. [Wall Street Journal / Jacob Bunge]
States have increasingly imposed more onerous work requirements for SNAP, policies pushed by a right-wing group called the Foundation for Government Accountability. [Vox / Jared Bennett (Center for Public Integrity)]
“We want to encourage people by giving them a helping hand, but not an infinitely giving hand,” said USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue. [PBS Newshour / Noah Feldman and Pamela S. Karlan]
This waiver restriction is the latest of three Trump administration measures designed to curtail the use of food stamps nationwide. [Bloomberg / Jennifer Jacobs and Mike Dorning]
While the number of people who should qualify for food stamps and welfare programs is contested, SNAP benefits provide undeniable relief for those in need of assistance. [Vox / Matthew Zeitlin]
Several experts have called the reduction of SNAP a step backward in ending food insecurity. A food bank communications director, Jocelyn Lantrip, stated her opposition to these measures: “Food shouldn’t be a luxury.” [NBC News / Phil McCausland]

Iran claims to have shot at “rioters” during unrest

Iranian security forces shot and killed protesters during recent demonstrations, according to their own admission on state television. [Al Jazeera]
Over 200 people died during protests that wracked the country last month. The Iranian officials claims that they shot at “rioters” during that period. [NBC News]
Videos corroborating the death counts and stories of violence are just coming to light due to the regime’s shut down of the internet in order to prevent protesters from organizing and keep videos of the violent crackdowns from leaking out of Iran. [Vox / Delia Paunescu]
Once the internet was restored, footage of the protests has shocked the world with images of the regime’s aggressive crackdown on demonstrators. [Vice News / David Gilbert]
At the NATO summit, President Trump commented that “Iran is killing perhaps thousands and thousands of people right now as we speak. That is why they cut off the internet, so people can’t see what is going on.” He cited no evidence to back up his claims. [Washington Post / Miriam Berger]

Miscellaneous

NASA is bringing a robot hotel to space. [TechCrunch / Darrell Etherington]
One of the biggest perpetuators of the racial wealth gap is housing, and America’s discriminatory housing history is not pretty. [Vox / Sean Illing]
With the withdrawal of Sen. Kamala Harris from the 2020 presidential race, some Democratic candidates and voters are criticising the lack of diversity in the debate-qualifying field. [Washington Post / Meagan Flynn]
A judge ruled in favor of a Texas teacher who said her tweets at President Trump asking him to deport her undocumented students were protected by the First Amendment. [Davis Rich and Chase Karacostas]
The Airbnb of camping is looking to “get more people outside.” But just like with renting out homes, it’s not so simple. [New Yorker / Anna Wiener]