The number of Americans receiving food stamps rose in July to a record 41.8 million, including more than 86,000 Vermonters, in another sign of fallout from the worst recession since the Great Depression. The government announcement on Tuesday came days after the U.S. Department of Agriculture agreed to a request by Sen. Bernie Sanders and others to postpone, for at least three months, a reduction in food stamp benefits for some 16,000 Vermont families.  Sanders' letter, asked Secretary Thomas Vilsack to reconsider a planned reduction of up to 25 percent of nutrition assistance benefits under Vermont's "3SquaresVT" program.

Sanders' letter, signed by Sen. Patrick Leahy and 13 other senators, said that a decision to allow food stamp benefits to fall would "greatly reduce the nutrition assistance benefits that many of our constituents rely on to feed their families during this continued time of economic distress.  In addition, we are worried that the failure to extend this waiver will disproportionately impact the elderly and persons with disabilities."  Rep. Peter Welch supported a similar letter from members of the U.S. House.

Angela Smith-Dieng, senior nutrition and policy specialist for the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger, said, "This benefit cut would have hit Vermonters very hard, especially seniors and people with disabilities, at a time when budgets are already stretched thin.  A $30 to $40 cut could mean the loss of a week's worth of food for a low-income household, significantly increasing the risk of hunger and poor health."

Nationwide, at least 2 million people would also have seen a reduction in their food stamp benefit based on declining home utility costs which factor into the food stamp benefits formula. .

Altogether, more than an eighth of the population in throughout the country will get food stamps each month in the year that began Oct. 1, according to White House estimates.

"There are people who are terribly worried about how they are going to be able to provide the most basic needs for their kids, and we must never forget that reality," Sanders said.

To read the senators' letter, click here.

To watch a report on the food stamps program on WPTZ, click here.