Therefore, state officials say, in close cases, they have a financial incentive to reject food stamp applications or terminate benefits for people already receiving aid.

Before those court decisions the state had been terminating benefits after five months.

The Senator said the Social Security Administration had terminated benefits for "many more children than Congress ever intended."

In letters terminating benefits, Social Security officials have invited parents to call a toll-free telephone number with questions.

Three others terminate benefits after a period of mandatory work.

He wrote that in many cases, the agency had terminated benefits like food stamps without notifying recipients.

In the letters terminating benefits, Janice L. Warden, Deputy Commissioner of Social Security, invited parents to call a toll-free telephone number with questions.

In December, many White House officials urged the President to seek a two-year delay in provisions of the welfare law terminating benefits for legal immigrants.

The threat to terminate benefits was once fairly rare, but it has been made about 20 times in the last two years, fund officials say.

Thirteen percent said they had already terminated benefits for future retirees in the last two years.