The administration is motivated by conservative ideology, not facts, with its proposal to toughen the 90-day limit on food stamps for able-bodied adults, said the chair of a House Agriculture subcommittee on Wednesday, vowing “to do everything I can to stop this rule.” President Trump announced “immediate action on welfare reform” — stricter enforcement of the 90-day rule — when he signed the 2018 farm bill, in which lawmakers rejected an expansion of SNAP work requirements.
An estimated 755,000 able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) would lose SNAP eligibility under the administration proposal. The 1996 welfare reform law limits ABAWDs to 90 days of food stamps in a three-year period unless they work at least 20 hours a week, perform workfare, or are in job training. States can waive the 90-day limit in areas of high unemployment or too few jobs. The White House says there are too many waivers for too many ABAWDs, and that a time limit would inspire people to find work or a better-paying job.
“I’m going to do everything I can to stop this rule, whatever that is,” said Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge, who chairs the Agriculture subcommittee on nutrition. “Maybe we can put enough pressure on them” to withdraw it. Speaking to reporters after a subcommittee hearing on the ABAWD rule, Fudge said House Democrats might file a lawsuit against the rule, which is scheduled to take effect in fiscal 2020.
Fudge said the USDA has yet to provide data on the ABAWDs who would be affected, including their income, age, education, disabilities, or military service. Nor is the White House waiting for the results of 10 projects intended to identify — at a cost of $200 million — the best education and training techniques to help SNAP recipients move up the employment ladder. “They are making decisions with no data whatsoever,” said Fudge. During the hearing, she likened the proposal to a conservative’s wish list.
Texas Rep. Michael Conaway, author of the unsuccessful House Republican proposal to expand the 20-hour-a-week work requirement in the 2018 farm bill, said the USDA rule was a solution to state abuse of waivers. “Not one Democrat offered a suggestion beyond asking the [USDA] to withdraw this proposal.”
The USDA proposal would eliminate surplus labor as a reason for a waiver, limit the geographic area that can be covered by a waiver, limit waivers to a 12-month life, and require that regions of comparatively high unemployment have a jobless rate of 7 percent, rather than the current trigger of 20 percent higher than the national average. Waivers would continue to be available for areas with a jobless rate higher than 10 percent or where the Labor Department provides extended unemployment benefits.
Two witnesses at the subcommittee hearing said “able-bodied” was misused in describing ABAWDs, who often have health or disability issues. In addition, Jay Shambaugh of the Brookings Institution said, “Research shows … work requirements keep people out of the SNAP program but have little or no impact on work.”
“The term ‘ABAWD’ is a complete misnomer,” said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks. Ohioans using food banks often report physical or mental disabilities that make them unable to work, she said. Many lack access to reliable transportation or do not have a driver’s license, and some have criminal records, often a red flag on a job application.
Karen Cunnyngham of the analytical company Mathematica Policy Research said, “The vast majority of SNAP participants who could be affected by this proposed rule are in deep poverty, and many live alone.” Like Shambaugh, Cunnyngham said many ABAWDs work but do not consistently meet the 20-hour-a-week threshold.
“This is a population that clearly has challenges,” said Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota, the Republican leader on the subcommittee, during a series of questions to Sam Adolphsen of the Foundation for Government Accountability, an advocate of stricter work rules. “Work requirements work,” said Adolphsen, who credited work rules for reducing ABAWD enrollment in Kansas, Maine, Arkansas, and Florida. “Work is the key to achieving the goal of the food stamp program — lifting people out of poverty.”
While Adolphsen said the USDA proposal would restore the original intent of the 90-day limit, House Rules chairman Jim McGovern of Massachusetts took the opposite view. “My frustration is we passed a farm bill yet we have an administration ignoring what Congress decided,” he said.
Separately, the USDA said it would reopen the comment period on the ABAWD rule for three days, beginning on Monday, because of complaints of computer glitches that prevented some people from filing comments this week.
To watch a video of the hearing, click here.
The proposed ABAWD rule is available here.