700,000 People Could Lose Food Stamp Benefits Under Trump’s New SNAP Rules

Seven hundred thousand people could lose food stamp benefits under new SNAP rules from the Trump Administration. On December 4, the administration tightened worker requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

SNAP provides assistance to over 36 million Americans. Eligibility for the program is based on a formula that considers family size, income, expenses and citizenships. The new rule, which goes into effect April 2020, restricts states from keeping “work-eligible” adults without dependents from the employment requirement in the formula. Current rules say adults in this group must work 20 hours a week for more than three months in 36-months. Many states have been able to waive that and now they cannot.

Agriculture secretary Sonny Perdue said in an opinion column on the change, “Americans are generous people who believe it is their responsibility to help their fellow citizens when they encounter a difficult stretch. Government can be a powerful force for good, but government dependency has never been the American dream. We need to encourage people by giving them a helping hand but not allowing it to become an indefinitely giving hand….we need everyone who can work, to work.”

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, said of the bill, “This Administration is out of touch with families who are struggling to make ends meet by working seasonal jobs or part time jobs with unreliable hours. Seasonal holiday workers, workers in Northern Michigan’s tourism industry, and workers with unreliable hours like waiters and waitresses are the kinds of workers hurt by this proposal.”

Stacy Dean, the food assistance policy vice president at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said the change is, “Taking away basic food assistance from these individuals will only increase hardship and hunger, while doing nothing to help them find steady full-time work.”

Also, it’s important to note that SNAP benefits aren’t enough for a healthy diet, and according to this study from September 2018, are insufficient to meet federal dietary guidelines for men of any age, women under 50, and children over the age of 8.

Read more about federal policies in One Green Planet, including Trump’s removal of the United States from the Paris Agreement and new rules about oil drilling.

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