Although a half-million children would lose access to free meals at school under a Trump administration proposal to restrict eligibility for food stamps, the USDA has not published that fact, said the chairman of the House Education Committee on Monday. In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, chairman Bobby Scott said the USDA should amend its analysis of the SNAP proposal to include its impact on school meals.
“The effect on school meal eligibility represents an important technical finding that must be made public so that stakeholders have the opportunity to comment on all aspects of the rule’s impact,” wrote Scott. The Virginia Democrat said the estimate was mentioned during a USDA briefing for congressional staffers but that it was not part of the Federal Register notice that began a 60-day comment period, due to end on Sept. 23. Scott said the USDA should restart the comment period after amending its analysis of the impact of restricting so-called categorical eligibility for SNAP.
Ohio Democrat Marcia Fudge, who chairs the House Agriculture subcommittee on nutrition, said the USDA should double the comment period to 120 days. Fudge said the USDA proposal would increase the risk of hunger.
The USDA estimates that 3.1 million people, or roughly 8 percent of current SNAP enrollment, will lose benefits under its proposal. Categorical eligibility, which was created as part of welfare reform in 1996, says that if people are eligible for assistance under welfare, they will be automatically considered for SNAP. The administration says states abuse “cat el” by ignoring applicants’ assets and letting people with unfairly high incomes seek SNAP benefits. A USDA fact sheet lists the impact of the proposed rule on SNAP enrollment but not the effect it would have on access to school food.