The Trump administration has tightened work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — formerly known as food stamps — which will affect how 688,000 poor and low-income people across the country purchase food.
In the District, it means 16,500 residents will lose their access to the critical benefit, plus thousands more in surrounding areas. Fairfax County currently has 43,224 SNAP recipients, but it’s unclear how many will be affected by the rule. Other counties we reached out to in Maryland and Virginia said they are still calculating the number of people who will be affected. This story will be updated once we hear from them.
“We are deeply disappointed in the Trump Administration’s decision to implement a policy that will increase hunger nationwide,” said D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser in a press release Wednesday. “This cruel policy does not live up to our values as a nation, and now we must work together nationwide to resist these changes and protect our most vulnerable neighbors.”
The new rule applies to what the federal government refers to as able-bodied adults without dependents. Those individuals are currently limited to participating in the SNAP program for just three months in a three-year period, unless they are working or volunteering for at least 20 hours per week. But states have been able to waive the time limit as some people struggle to land and keep jobs.
The rule, which is expected to take effect in April 2020, makes it harder for states to receive such waivers.
“In light of the new rule, [the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service] is taking this opportunity to reiterate the importance of state screening and tracking of able-bodied adults without dependents, as well as providing ABAWDs with the resources they need to move towards — and into — employment,” wrote Jessica Shahin, associate administrator of the SNAP program, in an internal memo.
Over the past year, the USDA has proposed changes to three aspects of the SNAP program:
- The unemployment standards required for time limit waivers for able-bodied adults without dependents
- The types of government benefits that automatically qualify families for SNAP
- The approach to calculating standard utility allowances
The last two rules on the list have concluded their public comment period. There has been no word from USDA officials on when they will be implemented.
This story originally appeared on WAMU.
