Changes to SNAP rules will impact thousands of Louisianans
9th December 2019 · 0 Comments
By Meghan Holmes
Contributing Writer
On December 4, the Trump Administration announced changes to the nation’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Plan (SNAP) that will remove almost 700,000 adults from the program on April 1, 2020.
Currently, areas with unemployment rates higher than 2.5 percent can waive a rule requiring able-bodied SNAP recipients without dependents between the ages of 18-49 to consistently work 80 hours a month. When rules change next year, counties/parishes will need to have an unemployment rate of more than six percent to waive work requirements, meaning that SNAP recipients who don’t maintain consistent employment (or take part in job training or education) in those areas will lose their benefits.
In Louisiana, some 49,000 ABAWDs (able bodied adults without dependents) will be impacted, according to a statement released by the state’s Department of Child and Family Services in the wake of the administration’s announcement.
“Louisiana has a statewide waiver that will remain in effect through March 31, 2020, so none of our clients need to worry about losing their food assistance during the holidays because of this rule change,” Catherine Heitman, part of the agency’s communications department, said.
“In the meantime, DCFS will be examining the new rule, which is more than 120 pages long, gathering data and determining the best course of action to take before the rule goes into effect in the spring,” Heitman continued.
Currently, the nation’s unemployment rate is 3.5 percent and Louisiana’s is 4.3 percent. Officials with the USDA touted these numbers as a sign of a healthy economy with ample job opportunities when they announced changes to SNAP in a phone call with reporters on last Wednesday.
“The changes reflect the belief that more Americans can enter and reenter the workforce, so they can know the dignity of work,” Brandon Lipps, the USDA deputy undersecretary for food nutrition and consumer services, said during the call, also emphasizing that the new rule does not impact children and their parents, those over 50 years old, those with a disability or pregnant women.
The announcement marks the first in a series of three planned changes to the SNAP program, which will ultimately remove millions of people from the rolls and represent around $5 billion less in government spending each year. Future changes include capping a utility deduction and giving benefits to fewer poor, working families.
Critics of the proposed changes say they hurt already vulnerable communities.
“These rule changes encourage food insecurity among students, seasonal workers, and part time employees,” said Dr. Angela Cooley, an assistant professor at Minnesota State University who’s writing a book about hunger in the rural south. “Part of my book’s thesis is that white landowners purposefully kept Black tenants hungry so they would have a pliable working class. I’m struggling to see how these new SNAP rules are any different.”
Angela Barnett, who works with Alabama Food Assistance, said her agency is still working to understand all the specifics of the changes, but that people already slip through the cracks in the system and don’t receive benefits they deserve. “There are people who are truly unable to work, but lack the resources to obtain a medical exemption because they don’t receive medical care and don’t have a doctor to fill out the form. We also have clients who are able, but lack reliable transportation, particularly in rural communities, and there is no exemption to work requirements for issues with transportation,” she said.
In a statement, Louisiana’s Department of Child and Family Services said they would be in direct communication with all clients who will be impacted by the new rule. In the meantime, 47 senators, led by Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), sent a bipartisan letter urging the Trump administration to withdraw the proposed changes, arguing that they take food assistance away from families.
“The proposed changes would take food assistance away from Americans struggling to find stable employment while doing nothing to help them to actually become permanently employed,” the Senators wrote in the letter. “This proposed rule removes critical local input and flexibility, and would worsen hunger in this country.”
This article originally published in the December 9, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
