In a recent article for ColorLines, Seth Wessler reported on one woman's struggle to support her family when cash benefits from the Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) program--the one that replaced welfare under Bill Clinton's 1996 welfare reform--run out. "Selling Food Stamps For Kids' Shoes" was the title of the article, and it creates a stark picture of the impossible choices more and more families are forced to make in the continuing recession.

Wessler joins us in studio, along with Irasema Garza, president of Legal Momentum (Ms. Foundation grantee), Wanda Fossett with Community Voices Heard, and via Skype, Carmen Cordero, welfare rights activist with the Hartford-based group Vecinos Unidos. They discuss food stamps, poverty, and why this might be the best opportunity we have to rebuild the social safety net.

[Source: GRITtv with Laura Flanders]