Trump’s SNAP judgment will hurt Pierce County, and could leave thousands hungry
In a move that would make Ebenezer Scrooge proud, the Trump Administration just announced a big change coming to the food assistance program, one that could kick over 90,000 Washingtonians off the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
The administration recently zeroed in on able-bodied adults between the ages of 18-49 with no dependents, known in the bureaucratic world ABAWDs. The current system allows these individuals to receive three months of food assistance if they’re unemployed, but after three months, ABAWDs must show proof of a 20 hour work week or they’re cut off from food benefits.
Like most states, Washington recognizes that 12 weeks isn’t enough time for some individuals to find employment and secure housing, so the state applies for work requirement waivers, a process adopted during the George W. Bush Administration.
But the new Trump rule makes it harder for states like ours to apply for those work waivers. Now, only areas with unemployment rates below 6 percent will be considered. That means 26 counties in Washington, including Pierce, will no longer be eligible.
In a press release, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue justified the action by saying, “We need everyone who can work, to work.”
Fair enough, but this new rule works under the faulty assumption that people who apply for SNAP are unemployed and hungry by choice. As Nora West, spokesperson at the state Department of Social and Health Services told the Editorial Board this week, more than 43 percent of ABAWDs experience homelessness and nearly 60 percent have either a behavioral health condition or a substance use disorder or both. And some are just underemployed, working less than the required 20 hour work week.
According to West, almost 14,000 individuals in Pierce County could feel the impact come April 1, when the new law goes into effect.
We’re all in favor of self-sufficiency and accountability, but revoking food benefits does nothing to help individuals gain long term employment; it only guarantees they’ll be hungry while doing it.
States like ours combine high and low unemployment counties to maximize the number of people who can receive food benefits. Republicans call it a “loophole,” but it’s a loophole that makes sense, because regardless of a robust economy, individuals still face substantial barriers on the road to self-sufficiency.
Tying food assistance to a county’s labor market doesn’t tell the story of the rising cost of living, and it ignores the fact that a large swath of folks use food benefits to feed children or other relatives who may not live with them. It’s why the U.S. Congress rejected this SNAP cut when it was inserted into a 2018 U.S. farm bill.
Take SNAP away from unemployed adults and no doubt there will be ripple effects. Look for an exacerbation in the homelessness crisis. As author and professor Maggie Dickinson recently wrote in The Atlantic, SNAP benefits are sometimes the only way poor and working poor can contribute to a household.
In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue last spring, Gov., Inslee called the new rule “misguided,” a generous interpretation indeed.
Inslee argued that ripping food assistance away from 91,000 Washingtonians who currently receive a monthly food benefit of $210.00 would reduce total revenue in our state by over $32.6 million and would result in loss of economic activity for grocery stores, farmers, and other local food suppliers.
Those happy with eliminating the SNAP state waiver program can look forward to more restrictions in the coming year. The Trump Administration also has plans to tighten access to free or reduced-cost school lunches for kids and remove the ability of states to factor in recipients’ utility payments when determining benefits.
We agree with the conservative impulse to get able-bodied Americans up and working, but there are better incentives than hunger. Without adequate nutrition, it’s hard to find work, study in school or stay motivated, a reality 14,000 Pierce County residents will soon find out.