Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019 | 2 a.m.
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Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak denounced the Trump administration’s harsh new restrictions on food stamps as “unconscionable,” which unfortunately was a perfect descriptor.
If carried out in the spring as scheduled, the restrictions would punish about 32,000 Nevadans for being out of work. The rules apply to employment requirements for recipients of benefits from the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, the formal name for food stamps.
Specifically, it would cut assistance among American adults who are 49 and younger, are not mentally or physically disabled and have no children. States had been able to waive employment requirements for those individuals in counties with higher-than-average unemployment, but the White House’s executive order arbitrarily eliminates such waivers in counties with less than 6% unemployment.
The waivers are set to end March 30, 2020. When that happens, some 688,000 low-income Americans — including those 32,000 Nevadans — will lose a major part of their safety net. Unless they’re working 20 hours per week or are enrolled in a government-sponsored training program, their assistance will be cut off.
To make matters worse, the administration also is finalizing another rule change that would hurt thousands of Nevada families. It would do away with a policy known as broad-based categorical eligibility, which has allowed Nevada and 41 other states to offer food assistance to households whose income exceeds the federal level for SNAP benefits. The income maximum for SNAP is 130% of the poverty level, but broad-based categorical eligibility extends benefits to households making up to 200% of the poverty level.
What that means in dollars and cents is a hard and low cap on eligibility — 130% of the poverty rate is $2,789 per month for a family of four. Minus rent, utilities, taxes and household expenses, that money goes fast.
Sisolak’s office said eliminating the provision would cut benefits for 46,000 SNAP recipients in Nevada, including 7,415 children on the National School Lunch Program.
The Trump administration, in the type of Orwellian message it’s so well known for, is presenting the change as being good for the poor — a way to help them lift themselves out of poverty.
“This is about restoring the original intent of food stamps … moving more able-bodied Americans to self-sufficiency,” Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said.
But if that’s really what the Trump administration wanted to do, it wouldn’t cut into a program that provides Americans with vital assistance when income earners find themselves out of work, often for reasons that are beyond their control.
Keep in mind that although unemployment is low and job creation is running high, jobs in some fields never recovered from the recession. In manufacturing, to use one example, it can be difficult for workers to find a new job for which they’re qualified.
It’s not as if SNAP recipients are being lavished with handouts, either. The average monthly benefit is $118 in Nevada, which equates to $1.29 per meal per person.
The cuts are another low point in President Donald Trump’s assault on the poor, complete with the announcement seemingly being timed during the holidays to enhance the cruelty of their impact.
But they’ll affect everyone, regardless of income level. At a time when Las Vegas and other communities nationwide are facing a growing homeless crisis and working Americans are struggling with housing affordability, cutting SNAP benefits will only cause those problems to worsen by leaving more people with no safety net. When that happens, communities will have to step in to provide the assistance Trump has snatched away.
Those hurt the worst, though, will be the thousands of our neighbors and their children who will no longer know where and when their next meal will come from.
Unconscionable, indeed.
