The Trump administration is trying to make it more difficult for some people to qualify for food stamps, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced Tuesday.
Perdue told reporters late Monday the administration intends to tinker with certain automatic eligibility criteria for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, to curb abuse of a loophole.
“Recently a millionaire living in Minnesota successfully enrolled in the program simply to highlight the waste of taxpayer money,” Perdue said. “Our fix restores confidence in eligibility for SNAP, is consistent from state-to-state, contains costs, and better aligns SNAP with other means-tested programs nationwide. This proposal will not only save money, but more importantly it preserves the integrity of the program while ensuring nutrition-assistance programs serves those most in need.”
Perdue’s announcement regarding the rollout of the federal government regulatory rule wasn’t unexpected as Republicans unsuccessfully pushed for changes to “broad-based categorical eligibility” in 2014 and 2018. The executive action, however, doesn’t require approval from Congress.
The criteria, as it stands, has allowed 43 states, both Democratic and Republican-governed, to provide SNAP benefits to people who haven’t had to meet congressionally mandated SNAP asset and income thresholds if, for example, they collect a Temporary Assistance for Needy Families-funded benefit such as a brochure or are referred to a TANF-boosted hotline. The Trump administration, instead, is seeking to restrict eligibility to those who get a “substantial and ongoing” TANF kickback of at least $50 monthly for half a year or fall within special “subsidized employment,” “work support,” or “child care assistance” noncash categories.
USDA officials predict the modification will boot 3 million from SNAP, resulting in $2.5 billion in savings a year.
While supporters of the reform argue it will ease pressure on the program’s resources, particularly as unemployment figures are low, those against it assert it will place a financial burden on struggling households.
“Through this avenue, states may bypass the regular SNAP asset limits to eliminate duplicative verifications of eligibility, simplify administration of benefits, and expand SNAP eligibility to certain families in need,” CLASP, a nonpartisan, anti-poverty nonprofit organization wrote in a brief last year.
Rep. Marcia Fudge, a Democrat from Ohio, oversaw a June hearing held in anticipation of the Trump administration’s proposal. The chairwoman of the House Agriculture’s Subcommittee on Nutrition was more political in her criticism, demanding to know what “congressional Republicans and this administration” have “against poor people.”
“They talk about the dignity of work and the cycle of poverty, using pseudo-academic data from armchair think tanks, and they ignore already strict work requirements in statute to paint a dishonest picture of greedy, shiftless, welfare spongers,” Fudge said.
The public has 60 days to comment on the administration’s floated reform.
