The White House has recently issued a proposal that could deny food stamps to the nation’s poorest people. SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has some guidelines to its application. One of those guidelines are employment requirements that must be met.
Due to the Great Recession, we saw many states over the past decade wave work requirements for SNAP. It made it a lot easier for struggling people to get the food benefits they needed to survive. Trump’s proposal would, in effect, prevent states from waiving that requirement.
That could push as many as 750,000 off the SNAP program. Karen Cunnyngham, a researcher into this proposal, told the House subcommittee of the dangers of this proposal. She said those hit the hardest would be people who work, but barely make $557 per month.
Food Stamps Requirement
According to the law, if you’re non-disabled and are of a working age, you must have a job or be training for a job to receive food stamps. If you’re currently not working but are able to work, you can only receive benefits for three months out of 36. In many instances, states have waived these requirements.
This is all part of Trump’s initiative to add more work requirements to benefit programs. He believes these sorts of requirements will help weed out the people who can work but refuse to do so. At the same time, it also creates more barriers for people who have a difficult time finding gainful employment.
“Those subject to the time limit have profound barriers to employment,” said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks. People who have physical or mental limitations but not classified disabled, don’t have reliable transportation, or failed to attain their GED. Either way, there are plenty of people out there who would struggle to meet food stamps requirements.
Still, the republicans believe rules like this exist for a reason. Forcing able-bodied people to work will help move them out of poverty.
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“Work has dignity. Work is opportunity. It’s not a dirty word,” said Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota, the nutrition subcommittee ranking member. “Able-bodied adults cannot be kept on the sidelines while we witness historically low unemployment and a record-high seven million open jobs.”
