Hundreds of Utahns stand to lose food stamps benefit under Trump final rule

SALT LAKE CITY — At least 500 Utahns may lose access to food stamps under a new final rule issued Wednesday by the Trump administration.

“It’s really harsh,” said Gina Cornia, executive director at Utahns Against Hunger. She said that under the final rule, those people would no longer qualify for basic nutritional benefits.

The rule restricts the state’s ability to apply for a three-month waiver in certain situations when a person qualifying for help from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cannot find work. In rural parts of the state, the average unemployment rate must be at least 6% to get that waiver after the rule goes into effect April 1.

Recipients will be limited to three months of food aid over a three-year period unless they are working, in job training or participating in volunteer opportunities for at least 80 hours a month, according to the Associated Press. It reports that work requirements have existed since the mid-1990s, but many states receive waivers for specific counties with higher unemployment rates or where jobs are scarce.

The rule, however, Cornia said, doesn’t take into account a future recession or rise in unemployment rates.

“We’re really lucky right now,” she said Thursday. During the last recession, she said, 153,000 Utah households were in need of food stamps.

The 500 Utahns — able-bodied adults under 50 without children — that stand to be affected by the change are mostly in San Juan County, which is the only county in Utah that has an active waiver. That waiver puts Utah among 36 states that have waivers in order to deliver benefits to those who need them most.

“SNAP is a nutrition program. It is not an employment program,” Cornia said. “We don’t believe in holding benefits hostage while trying to force people to work.”

She said “forcing people to go hungry or without food stamp benefits is not going to make them more employable. If they’re worried about where their next meal is coming from, it makes it difficult to look for work.”

Similar to other charges from the Trump administration, it is possible that this final rule may not go into effect, but that would require legal action from more than one state.

Cornia said there is already too much pressure on low-income households.

“They constantly have to prove that they deserve the most basic of needs,” she said.

The change, which is one of a few that the feds have proposed to scale back the nation’s food assistance program, is expected to save the federal government $5.5 billion over five years, the AP reports. It “restores the system to what Congress intended” and encourages people to enter the workforce at a time that jobs are plentiful, said U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.

The agency reported that about three-quarters of able-bodied adults without children who are getting food stamps are not working.

“This was a system through difficult times, not a way of life,” Perdue said.

In 2000, when the unemployment rate was around 4%, there were 17 million people on food stamps, versus 36 million today, he said.

Cornia and others have said people may face additional barriers to employment, including a lack of education or skills, a criminal background, mental or otherwise undiagnosed disability, or a lack of transportation to get to work. It is also difficult to get enough hours to qualify for the benefit.

Another rule proposed by the Trump administration also regarding SNAP would tighten up eligibility for people with money in savings.

“We have an obligation that people at least have something to eat,” Cornia said. “SNAP is the best way that people can put food on their table.”

from Deseret News https://ift.tt/2OYSWEH