Roll Call
Roll Call is a Washington, DC based newspaper covering Capitol Hill with a particular focus on Congress. It has a media bias rating of Center.
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(Tamir Kalifa/Getty Images file photo)
In 2016, Erika Tebbens was living outside Seattle, one of the most expensive places in America, trying to feed a family of three on her husband’s enlisted sailor's salary of less than $25,000 a year.
Tebbens said she did not qualify for Agriculture Department nutrition assistance because of a rule that military personnel include in their income any housing allowance they receive. That same rule was a big reason a Pentagon poverty assistance program that started in 2000 failed to help many servicemembers and was discontinued in 2016.