Declaring that states are the laboratories of innovation, the head of the federal government’s largest anti-hunger program said he will give states “the flexibility to test new and better ways to administer our programs.” Administrator Brandon Lipps delivered the promise of flexibility to a group of politically conservative state officials who advocate turning the food stamp program into block grants, with stricter eligibility rules.
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, a former two-term governor of Georgia, said, “I know first-hand how important it is for states to be given flexibility to achieve the desired goal of self-sufficiency for people.” The USDA said the new flexibility would promote self-sufficiency, program integrity, and customer service. “Specifics on such flexibilities will be communicated to state agencies in the coming weeks,” said a USDA release.
Self-sufficiency will mean “partnering with key stakeholders in the workforce development community and holding our recipients accountable for personal responsibility,” Lipps wrote in a letter to state food stamp agencies. “We will not tolerate waste, fraud, or abuse,” he said in describing the goal of integrity. In a paragraph on customer service, Lipps said, “In order to achieve a high degree of customer service, we … must provide states the flexibility to test new and better ways to administer our programs, recognizing that we are all accountable to the American taxpayer for outcomes.”
Separately, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker submitted a plan to the legislature for drug testing of able-bodied adults on food stamps. The state says it has the authority to test the program without federal approval, and if the legislature does not object within 120 days, the plan will go into effect, said the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Skeptics say drug testing would be costly, would stigmatize applicants, and would discourage participation in food stamps. Thirteen states require drug tests as part of welfare programs, but very few applicants have tested positive, said the Center for Law and Social Policy in 2016.
Able-bodied adults without dependents, known as ABAWDs in food stamp argot, are a frequent target of conservatives who want to reduce government spending in the name of encouraging self-reliance.
Lipps’ letter, for instance, said, “People who can work, should work.” House Agriculture chairman Michael Conaway has said states should do more to encourage, and to prepare, food stamp recipients to seek employment so they can improve their economic standing.
ABAWDs are limited to 90 days of benefits in a three-year period unless they work at least 80 hours a month or spend an equal amount of time in workfare or job training. States can waive the 90-day limit during times of high unemployment. The Trump administration, as part of a proposed $193 billion cut in food stamps over 10 years, would restrict greatly the availability of the waiver and limit the use of so-called categorical eligibility for food stamps by people who receive welfare benefits. House Republicans have repeatedly said they want to pursue welfare reform.
Lipps outlined the new USDA flexibility at a meeting of the Secretaries’ Innovation Group (SIG) on Tuesday, said the USDA. The group says its members are “activist secretaries of human services and workforce agencies” in state government who favor “healthy families, work, economic self-sufficiency, budget responsibility, and limited government.”
The group’s policy paper on food stamps calls for converting the program to a “fixed allocation with work requirements” of 30 hours a week for families with an able-bodied adult who is not working. “Work requirements … should be non-waivable,” and states should lose funding if they do not operate a food stamp work program. “States must incorporate a reasonable asset test” and limit food stamp purchases to nutritious food, says the SIG paper. The elderly and disabled would be exempt from the work requirement.
Some 41.3 million Americans received food stamps at latest count, with an average monthly benefit of $125 a person. The program cost $71 billion in fiscal 2016. The peak was $80 billion in fiscal 2013 during the slow economic recovery from the 2008–09 recession. The majority of food stamp recipients are children, elderly, or disabled.
To read Lipps’ letter to state officials, click here.
To read the Secretaries’ Innovation Group position paper on food stamps, click here.