Cuts in social aid to put more on US food stamps

Assistant Agriculture Secretary Mary Jarratt estimates that cutbacks in federal social programs will add $506 million to food stamp program costs in the next fiscal year.

Some people -- those who get more food stamps after losing other benefits, for example -- will be added to the food stamp rolls. The extra costs will equal nearly one-third of the $1.65 billion in food stamp cuts that were contained in the administration's massive budget cutting legislation approved by Congress. Cutbacks may push the total cost of the food stamp program up to $12 billion in fiscal 1982 -- $1 billion more than the ceiling approved by the House Agriculture Committ ee, Ms. Jarratt say.