The senate has rejected an attempt by Republican lawmakers to move the administration of food stamp benefits under the SNAP program to the states. Opponents of the measure cited fears that individual states would impose restrictions on benefits including eliminating those with criminal records from the program. One such critic, Robert Greenstein, President of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said,
"Poor, elderly African-Americans convicted of a single crime decades ago by segregated Southern juries would be among those hit. The amendment essentially says that rehabilitation doesn't matter and violates basic norms of criminal justice."
