Editorial left out key details on SNAP

THE EDITORIAL in (the July 13) Albuquerque Journal concerning work and education for individuals to receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) left a few pieces of information out. A few of the proposed changes have the following consequences: The proposed changes would force UNFUNDED monthly data collection on recipients. Since SNAP offices are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., many people would be required to miss work to report that they were working. If they failed to present themselves they would lose the little food benefits they are receiving. The proposed changes also require the state to run much larger employment and training programs without the flexibility or funding to decide whom to target for services and which types of job training would be most effective. The proposed bill takes away the option for the state to reduce paperwork.

It is interesting that a bunch of predominately white men, making a minimum of $174,000 per year — and complaining that is too low — in a country with a median income of $56,516, want to make access to food harder for people who need it. These same individuals are against equal pay for equal work by women, raising the minimum wage and providing meaningful health care, education and job training to their constituents. Minimum wage in 2018 is roughly equivalent to the minimum wage of 1980. I would challenge the individuals proposing these cuts to live on $60,662.50 per year — their 1980 salary.

I am not against people working or getting an education. I am against trying to force people into jobs that are not there without extensive training. Remember nearly 66 percent of SNAP recipients are children, elderly or have disabilities — none of them can work. (Around) 44 percent of SNAP recipients live in a household where someone has a job. In 2016, the last year data are available, the average SNAP household had income at 59 percent of the poverty line, with 42 percent at half or below the poverty line. SNAP has a powerful anti-poverty effect. Is that the real reason behind putting rules in place that result in denying people SNAP benefits?