When Democrats take control of the House today, one of their first steps will be the adoption of operating rules for the coming two years, including a provision that could lead to a court challenge to stricter time limits for SNAP benefits. President Trump emphasized the USDA’s proposed crackdown on state waivers of the 90-day limit for so-called ABAWDs when he signed the 2018 farm bill into law.
The rules package instructs the House’s legal office “to explore all possible legal options for responding” to the USDA proposal for stricter enforcement of the time limit for SNAP benefits for able-bodied adults without dependents, known informally as ABAWDs. Since 1996, ABAWDs have been limited to 90 days of benefits in a three-year period, although exceptions are allowed in areas with high unemployment rates or insufficient jobs. The USDA would eliminate labor surplus areas as a criterion for a waiver and require an unemployment rate of at least 7 percent for waivers now available if the local jobless rate is 20 percent higher than the national average.
Anti-hunger activists say the USDA proposal would push several hundred thousand people off of SNAP. The administration says states over-rely on waivers despite a booming economy and a low jobless rate.
Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern, the incoming chairman of the House Rules Committee, is a vocal advocate of SNAP and spoke repeatedly against House Republican attempts to include stricter SNAP work rules in the farm bill.
Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi and McGovern unveiled the rules package on Tuesday. “It un-rigs the rules. … Americans demanded a new direction, and this rules package will immediately usher in a new era for this Congress,” said McGovern.
To read the rules package or a summary of it, click here.