Nearly a year after President Trump announced “immediate action on welfare reform,” his administration said on Wednesday that it would more stringently apply a 90-day limit on food stamps for able-bodied adults, a step that would disqualify some 688,000 recipients. The USDA, which runs SNAP, is moving ahead with two additional regulations that would restrict SNAP access for an estimated 3 million people.
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said the goal was “to restore the original intent of SNAP” as a short-term safety net. “Government can be a powerful force for good, but government dependency has never been the American dream,” he said during a 20-minute teleconference. The economic boom is a good time for people to move into jobs, he said.
Critics said the new rule on so-called ABAWDs — able-bodied adults without dependents — was unduly harsh on destitute Americans and would deny aid to people working seasonal or part-time jobs with unreliable hours — or job hunters who can’t find work. Congress rejected broader and stricter SNAP work requirements as part of the 2018 farm law, so the administration is writing regulations on its own authority to implement them. “The Trump administration’s flouting of Congress’s will sadly puts on display its anti-government, anti-science, and anti-truth agenda,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Combined, the three administration proposals would reduce SNAP enrollment by 9 percent, according to the Urban Institute. The largest reduction, of more than 3 million people, would come from restrictions on so-called categorical eligibility, which allows states to modify asset tests and income limits so people who receive social services can be considered for SNAP. The ABAWD rule would cut off an estimated 688,000 people. The third proposal, to change the formula for calculating utility costs, a factor in determining SNAP benefits, would affect fewer than 8,000 households, according to the USDA.
The ABAWD rule, which is to appear in the Federal Register today, would take effect next Apr. 1. Brandon Lipps, USDA deputy undersecretary, said the agency was reviewing public comments on the categorical eligibility and utility allowance rules and would “roll them out when they are properly considered.”
States would have less leeway under the new ABAWD rule to waive the usual limit on food stamps — 90 days of benefits in a three-year period — for able-bodied adults aged 18 to 49 who do not work at least 20 hours a week. Waivers would no longer be allowed for so-called “labor surplus” areas. They would be limited to smaller geographic areas than in the past, and a higher jobless rate, 6 percent, will be required for a waiver. A 12-month lifetime would be set for waivers. The rule would cut SNAP spending by more than $1 billion a year.
“Taken together, these changes mean more ABAWDs will be required to work, volunteer, and/or participate in a work program, or participate in workfare, in order to receive SNAP for more than three months in a 36-month (three-year) period,” said the USDA in a memo to states.
States are not required to — and most do not — provide job training or workfare slots for SNAP recipients who are at risk of losing benefits because they can’t find a job or work enough hours in a month. “In FY 2020, 12 states made this pledge,” said a USDA spokesperson. The agency offers $20 million for such efforts. Without those programs, said critics, job seekers are left in the lurch when they can’t find work. The USDA also provides funding for “employment and training” programs as part of SNAP, but that funding is a comparatively small amount. Lipps encouraged states to form linkages between SNAP and local or state agencies that offer job-training and employment services.
There are an estimated 2.9 million ABAWDs. Most are not working. Lipps said the USDA did not have data on why. “Those affected … are among the poorest of the poor,” with incomes that average just 18 percent of the poverty line, said the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a think tank. “Most of these individuals are ineligible for any other form of government financial assistance.”
“If the rule is implemented, the nation would see higher rates of hunger and poverty,” said Jim Weill, head of the anti-hunger Food Research & Action Center. Weill said the administration was unfairly limiting states’ ability to provide food stamps in areas with insufficient jobs. “As a practical matter,” said the consumer group Center for Science in the Public Interest, “for those impacted it will mean less nutritious meals, or meals that are skipped altogether.”
Texas Rep. Michael Conaway, who sought stricter work rules as part of the farm bill, said the ABAWD rule would “move more Americans from poverty to prosperity.” Like Perdue, Conaway said that “employment is a chance to regain dignity and purpose, and to contribute to our economy and society.”
In general, SNAP recipients who are between 16 and 59 and able to work are required to register for work and to accept a suitable job if offered. ABAWDs face more stringent work requirements.
To read the ABAWD rule, click here.
A USDA fact sheet on the ABAWD rule is available here.