Food stamp changes prompt concern

An event Friday at the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank in Duquesne will highlight what are potentially several sweeping changes to the country’s largest food assistance safety-net program.

State officials, advocates, social service providers and others will discuss upcoming and proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Access Program, usually referred to as food stamps.

“We’re very concerned that people will lose access to SNAP benefits who need them,” said state Human Services Secretary Teresa Miller, speaking earlier this week in a phone interview. More than 1.7 million people in Pennsylvania use the program.

Among the changes and proposed changes:

• A rule that makes it harder for states to waive rules for socalled “able-bodied adults without dependents.” Under the change, many of these individuals would have to be working at least 20 hours per week, or they would face a three-month limit on their food assistance. This change takes effect April 1, barring a court injunction.

• A proposed rule that would tighten eligibility limits that states use for food stamps. Under the proposed change, a family of four in Pennsylvania would no longer be eligible for the program if they earn more than about $32,000 annually — down from about $40,000 they can earn now and still be eligible. This proposal could also impact school lunch eligibility. The Trump administration proposed the change last year; it is unclear when a final rule will be issued.

• A proposal that impacts how states calculate utility costs and could reduce food assistance benefits for as many as 775,000 households in Pennsylvania. A final rule on this proposal hasn’t been issued by the federal government.

The rule changes have been proposed piecemeal, but would have a huge impact both individually and collectively, some fear.

“They are broad, sweeping cuts that aren’t targeted to a specific group and will affect all Pennsylvanians that are struggling,” said Ann Sanders, a policy advocate with anti-hunger group Just Harvest.

Set to start in April, close to 90,000 people in Pennsylvania could be impacted by the rule requiring at least 20 hours of work every week. It applies to people between the ages of 18 and 49 who do not have dependent children in their household and do not receive federal disability assistance.

When it announced the change last year, U.S. Department of Agriculture officials said it would move people “towards self-sufficiency and into employment.”

“Now, in the midst of the strongest economy in a generation, we need everyone who can work, to work. This rule lays the groundwork for the expectation that able-bodied Americans re-enter the workforce where there are currently more job openings than people to fill them,” Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said in a statement.

Human service officials have said this doesn’t take into account barriers people face in finding and keeping jobs, such as a lack of reliable transportation.

“If we want people on SNAP to be working, we have to be taking care of those basic needs first before we tell them to go out and get a job,” Ms. Miller said.

A number of state attorneys general, including Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania, have sued to block the change. The litigation argues the rule change would go against what Congress intended — acknowledging states best understand their own economic conditions and should be given the flexibility to waive the work requirements if they decide to.