The Trump Administration Wants To Make It Even Harder To Qualify For Food Stamps

More than 3 million people could soon be classified as ineligible for food stamp advantages in the wake of President Donald Trump’s massive regulatory attack on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.


About 45.4 million people use SNAP in the U.S.; Children use SNAP the most, and the large majority of these who are enrolled in the program are millennials and gen z, according to the USDA. Currently, 43 states, in case you folks receive Short-term Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) advantages, they can automatically have the ability to participate in SNAP. Nevertheless, on Tuesday, July 23, the Agriculture Department issued an offered rule that would close what the administration calls a “loophole” that permits that to happen. Such a rule would tighten the definition of “categorical eligibility,” which makes it easier for people with incomes above 130 percent of the poverty level ($1,307/month for a family member of one) to be eligible for SNAP.


“Some states are taking advantage of loopholes that permit people to receive the SNAP advantages who would otherwise not qualify and for which they are not entitled,” USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue told reporters on a conference call on Monday.


Such a regulation change could save the USDA $2.5 billion each year, Reuters reported. Yet that isn't much in comparison to the new two-year financial range recently agreed upon by the White Home and congressional negotiators that would raise spending by $320 billion over existing caps, according to the New York Times.


And several people don’t think the current categorical eligibility model is a loophole at all — case in point, health care advocates simply mention it streamlines the SNAP application process for people who qualify for certain advantages under TANF, lessening the burden on both individuals applying for advantages and states mulling by means of the applications. According to CNN, the wide majority of states use the streamlined system, which permits states to eliminate the asset test and raise one of the revenue thresholds.


“This rule would take food away from families, prevent children from getting school meals, and make it harder for states to administer food assistance,” Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, told Reuters. Nearly half of SNAP recipients are children, according to the Center on Financial range and Policy Priorities, and 21 percent are adults who survive with those children. And the system itself is also mired in confusion; a majority of low-income college-aged students who may be eligible for the SNAP program don't participate in it, often because they were never made aware of the options accessible to them. Several college students also report being food-insecure while being enrolled in classes.


This isn’t the initial time Republicans have tried to close this specific so-called loophole. Last year, Home Republicans tried to impose similar restrictions on the Farm Bill, yet it stalled in the Senate. This time, yet, the USDA won’t need congressional approval, Brandon Lipps, a USDA acting deputy undersecretary, told reporters on the Monday call, according to Reuters


Ben Olinsky, the senior vice president of policy and plan of action at the Center for American Progress said in a press release that the new rule “would punish families that attempt to save for the future by forcing states to take food assistance away from those with even modest savings a number of thousand dollars — which could help them weather a health emergency, a vehicle breaking down, or the loss of a job.” He added that it would “disproportionately hurt families with children, seniors, and disabled people.”


The USDA is accepting comments on the proposal through www.Regulations.Gov for 90 days before putting anything into effect.