A nonpartisan research group says that two of the lesser-known provisions at issue during Senate-House negotiations over the 2018 farm bill could reduce food stamp enrollment by 8 percent. While the farm bill’s major SNAP debate is over a proposal by House Republicans to expand work requirements for adults, Mathematica Policy Research said on Thursday that a sizable number of the elderly, children, and disabled people would be affected by the provisions it analyzed.
Almost 2 million households would lose eligibility under House proposals to tighten so-called categorical eligibility for SNAP and to revise the list of resources, such as a car, that people can own and still qualify for food stamps. “Overall, the proposed policy changes would result in an estimated 8 percent drop in eligible participating households,” said Mathematica.
Among the households that would lose benefits, 34 percent have elderly members, 23 percent include children, and 11 percent include people with disabilities. Mathematica, whose analysis was based on a “microsimulation” of the provisions’ impact on individuals, looked at SNAP participants in 2015. Some 63 percent of the households at risk under the farm bill proposals qualified for more than $200 a month in SNAP benefits. USDA data says that at present, there are slightly more than two people per SNAP household.
Farm bill negotiators, who met in public for the first time on Wednesday, hope to write a final version of the bill quickly so that President Trump can sign it before Sept. 30, when the current law expires. The lead negotiators were not immediately available for comment on the Mathematica analysis. Senators have opposed sweeping changes to SNAP, while the Republican majority in the House has embraced the farm bill as their best chance at welfare reform this year.
“Almost 1.3 million [households] would lose eligibility because of their level of resources,” mostly because of the change in categorical eligibility rules, said Mathematica. States that use categorical eligibility can choose to exclude resources and allow a higher gross income than SNAP usually allows. The House bill would eliminate broad-based categorical eligibility in favor of what the House Agriculture Committee called “authentic” categorical eligibility, meaning the receipt of welfare benefits.
The House bill would allow households to have roughly triple the amount of resources — $12,000 for a household with an elderly or disabled member — allowed under the current law. Households could also own more valuable vehicles without reducing their eligibility for SNAP.
“The effect of eliminating broad-based categorical eligibility is somewhat offset by some of the changes to countable resources,” said Mathematica. “If Congress eliminated broad-based categorical eligibility without enacting the changes to countable resources, about 2.1 million households would lose eligibility due to their resources.”
At latest count, 39 million people were enrolled in SNAP with an average household benefit of $247 a month.
To read the Mathematica analysis, click here.