- Once again, food assistance
is under the microscope
with the Trump administration
calling for changes
that would affect millions of
beneficiaries and taxpayers.
"And more work remains to be done."
- It helps one in eight Americans.
It's a lifeline for 13%
of the U.S. population.
It's food stamps, now called SNAP,
the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program.
So, what does the administration want?
Who would be affected?
And what parts of federal food
aid would go under the knife?
We have the FAQs.
SNAP is run by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
It began during the Great Depression
when it served two critical functions:
1) helping impoverished
Americans feed themselves
and improve nutrition.
And 2) propping up the
American farming economy.
To this day, the program
is tied to the farm bill,
but more on that later.
By 1981, participation ballooned
to over 22 million people.
So to try and cut costs,
the Reagan administration
added restrictions,
like income tests
and doing away with cost
of living increases.
Fast forward to today.
42 million Americans
receive SNAP benefits.
That brings us back to the farm bill,
which still carries the
food assistance program.
In 2018 when trying to pass the bill,
Republicans wanted more
accountability measures,
arguing that many able-bodied Americans
are getting help they don't really need.
Currently, SNAP requires
working age beneficiaries
without disabilities or
dependents to have a job
or be in an approved
work training program.
Don't have that?
Well, you only get three months
of benefits every three years.
But there's a catch.
States can request a waiver
if unemployment is high.
The Washington Post's Jeff Stein explained
on the 'PBS NewsHour.'
"So right now the way the
food stamp waiver works is
if your area or your county
has an unemployment rate more
than 20% of the national average,
then you can get the waiver.
This would change that to set it at 7%,
so your county would have
to have an unemployment rate
of above 7% to receive the exemption."
- That means states would need
almost twice the national
unemployment rate to qualify.
Beyond clamping down on waivers,
the Trump administration
wanted the working age raised
from 49 to 59 and parents
with kids older than six
to be working or in job training.
But since these measures
didn't make it into the bill,
the USDA could implement
them in the agency's rules.
So if the changes are applied,
which Americans would be most affected?
"It's mostly white people.
It's mostly poor people."
The average income of this
group is about $4,000 a year.
But there are throughout the
country 36 separate states
and territories have these waivers.
- As it is, SNAP has one
of the most complex eligibility structures
of any social assistance program.
Its size and price tag have
made it a tempting target
for cuts over the years,
and its sheer scale
means changing it affects
millions of Americans,
so if the USDA bypasses Congress
and changes their rules,
they will likely have a lengthy
legal fight on their hands.
