One of the significant changes that the Trump administration has aggressively pursued throughout the past few years is the reduction of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program -- SNAP. The Trump administration believes that the program is being abused by the recipients and needs an overhaul. Fine. But kicking off several hundred thousand people is not alright. Every program needs some type of financial oversight. Additionally, each federal program (and state) could use adjustments through monitoring. The Trump administration believes that there are 'abled-bodied' workers who need to work rather than sit back and get paid.
According to reporting from Politico Agriculture, SNAP recipients who are deemed 'working abled-bodied status' will not be assisted in finding work as promised:
USDA TIGHTENS JOB TRAINING FOR FOOD STAMP RECIPIENTS: A proposed rule unveiled Thursday would require state agencies that oversee SNAP to consult workforce development boards to the design of their employment and training programs for food stamp recipients, writes Pro Ag's Liz Crampton.The so-called E&T services are intended to help SNAP participants find a job and eventually stop receiving nutrition benefits. The actual proposed rule change is 120 pages long and covers numerous proposed changes. In the latest announcement, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue again reiterated that the booming economy should lead people to jobs and off welfare programs.Perdue's deputy undersecretary for food, nutrition and consumer services, Brandon Lipps, called on state commissioners to "leverage the opportunity afforded to us by the longest economic expansion in U.S. history to get to work on getting people to work."Data-driven? It's not clear what data USDA relied on in making its proposed changes. As POLITICO has reported, the department has invested $200 million to launch 10 state pilots to test new approaches to SNAP E&T but results won't be available until 2021.USDA also announced it would host the first SNAP E&T National Forum in St. Louis Oct. 13-14.The Trump administration's SNAP crackdown has faced fierce blowback from Democrats and anti-hunger advocates. At a House Agriculture Committee hearing this week, Perdue and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) traded sharp words over a final rule set to take effect in April that would curb states' ability to waive work requirements for certain able-bodied adult recipients, booting an estimated 700,000 people from the program.
The current economy is an employer's economy. Which is to say, employers have the upper hand with a considerable lot of potential employees to choose from. Yes, the economy is strong with low unemployment -- meaning people are back to work. Although, SNAP recipients who have not held a job might find navigating the new job landscape not just tricky but nearly impossible.
Which is why the USDA SNAP initially offered to help those who would lose the assistance (i.e., funding). Now to yank the aid and help in finding a job away at the same time is a double punch. Not to mention that 700,000 people will be out of assistance soon. Stay tuned to more on the SNAP reorganization.
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