By Paul Hamel
Nebraska Examiner
LINCOLN — A trio of Nebraska food stamp recipients is pushing back on the new expansion of work requirements to obtain the food aid, saying the requirements don’t work and will harm families in need.
The new requirements, included in the recent compromise over the federal debt ceiling, raises from age 50 to age 54 a requirement that a person without dependents must work or obtain job training for at least 80 hours a month to qualify for food stamps, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
Studies have shown that work requirements don’t translate into long-term employment and discourage people from participating due to the paperwork, and instead work to push people off such food aid, according to Eric Savaiano, who manages programs for food and nutrition access at Nebraska Appleseed, which advocates for the poor.
‘Basic needs’ should not have been on table
“Their basic needs should never have been on the table in the debt ceiling negotiations,” Savaiano said.
Three food stamp recipients interviewed by Appleseed echoed those feelings.
“I worry about the older adults who are at risk of losing their SNAP now,” said one of the three, Sierra Edmisten of Hastings. “Everyone needs to eat. It’s a human right so why are we making it harder to access?”
The expanded work requirements for SNAP, as well as a modernization of the work requirements for federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, were part of the debt-ceiling compromise reached last week between Congress and President Joe Biden.
U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., was among those supporting the compromise, saying it was a step toward “fiscal sanity” that would reduce the federal deficit by a projected $2.1 trillion over the next six years.
Smith, in a column, also said that the work requirement changes for SNAP and TANF “will help get Americans off the sidelines of our economy and back into the workforce while preserving these programs for those who truly need them.”
Advocates: Requirements don’t lead to jobs
But advocates, and the three recipients of the programs, said the changes don’t promote access to jobs and financial security, but will cause fewer people to get help with food and other basic needs while they are seeking stability.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimated that almost 750,000 older adults ages 50-54 would be at risk of losing food assistance under the new job requirements.
Savaiano said that the debt-ceiling compromise did include one positive SNAP policy change — providing exemptions to preserve food access for people experiencing homelessness, veterans and former foster youth.
But, he said, the fact that these new categories of people had to be singled out for protection shows that current policies aren’t working.
“If people experiencing homelessness don’t qualify (now) for the existing ‘hardship’ exemption, it is hard to know who would,” Savaiano said.