The SNAP program. It’s a polarizing discussion in already divided Washington, D.C. SNAP was a hot topic of discussion during a Senate hearing last week that featured the Secretary of Agriculture.
Sonny Perdue reiterated during a U.S. Senate hearing the need to restore the original intent of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The program’s intent is to be “a second chance, not a way of life.” USDA published a proposed rule to move able-bodied SNAP recipients into the workforce.
The proposed rule aims to make the program into assistance through difficult times, not lifelong dependency. This proposed rule focuses on work-related program requirements for Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents. It would apply to non-disabled people between the ages of 18 and 49, who have no dependents. The rule would not apply to the elderly, the disabled, or pregnant women. Those who are eligible to receive SNAP – including the underemployed – would still qualify.
There haven’t been any statutory changes to the welfare reform legislation of 1996. The Trump Administration feels an abuse of administrative flexibility in SNAP has undermined the ideal of self-sufficiency. President Bill Clinton signed the legislation that instituted work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents.
Then-President Clinton said, “First and foremost, it should be about moving people from welfare to work. It should impose time limits on welfare… It [work] gives structure, meaning and dignity to most of our lives.”
During last week’s Senate hearing, Secretary Perdue talked about work requirements and his proposed rule. He said: “What was accepted by the U.S. Senate and passed was the same bill that’s been there since the beginning of the Welfare Reform regarding the work requirements of 20 hours per week. And what you also passed was not a prohibition, it was no change to the fact that in one section it says that the Secretary may waive that applicability and we plan to do that for the ABAWDs. We think the purpose is to help people move to independency… We should help people when they are down but that should not be interminably.”
“…You all also provided for a 12 percent cushion for states that they could use for any purpose. But, we do not believe in states where unemployment is 4 percent that ABAWDs should be able to stay on food assistance interminably.”
You may click HERE or on the image below to watch Secretary Perdue’s remarks:
Background:
Congress implemented this work requirement in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act in 1996.
It allowed the Secretary, upon request from a State, to waive the work requirement during times of high unemployment.
The statute provides the Secretary withe authority to determine if an area has an insufficient jobs and qualifies for a waiver. The 2018 Farm Bill did not modify that discretion .