By Carmen Rodriguez

This year has been panic inducing for the country’s millions of the struggling and needy families. While some have sounded the alarm bell of what a possible economic downturn or recession could do to job prospects and income stability in 2020, the federal government under the Trump administration has worked to cut every leg of support out from underneath those most vulnerable in the meantime.

In the past 12 months, the administration has made three significant attempts to cut funding and eligibility rules dramatically for programs meant to feed families facing income insecurity.

First, the administration threatened to cut off basic food assistance for hundreds of thousands of working-age Americans by enforcing strict work requirements, even where unemployment is high and job openings are scarce. The disgustingly harsh move was rejected upon bipartisan passage by Congress just weeks earlier of the 2018 Farm Bill.

This past July, Trump proposed a rule change to end a provision called “broad-based eligibility” for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or “food stamps.” Broad-based eligibility has allowed states to adjust SNAP rules so that families who had qualified for certain government support programs, such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), were immediately eligible for nutritional support as well.

In October, the administration proposed cutting benefits for nearly one in five SNAP-receiving families, representing an estimated $4.5 billion cut to the program over the next five years. The rule would change how housing and utility costs are calculated, ultimately lowering the monthly benefit paid to millions of eligible families.

Even one of these proposals could have devastating effects on millions of struggling Americans, even if the other two weren’t put into place.

The plan to eliminate broad-based eligibility, alone, would mean suddenly stopping SNAP assistance to about 3 million hungry Americans. This would include 5,100 in Camden County, and an estimated 68,000 across New Jersey, according to the state Department of Human Services.

When you consider the reasons why families could be facing cuts, the picture gets even more grim.

A current SNAP provision limits certain 18-to-49 year-olds to just three months of benefits, even if the recipient is unemployed for up to three years. Proof that you’re actively searching for a job doesn’t reinstate you. While job-training programs do, they can be hard to find. Most states receive waivers from the federal government that soften enforcement of this rule in places where jobs are scarce.

However, the U.S. Department of Agriculture now plans to eliminate those waivers, which would punish needy SNAP recipients for their joblessness. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, most of those affected are ineligible for other support programs because they’re not elderly, disabled or raising children. Pushing them off SNAP would cut off their only form of aid. Then what?

Worse yet are the details hidden in this “broad-based” proposal. Eighty percent of the individuals who would lose benefits would become ineligible solely on the ground that they have too much in assets, such as personal savings, to qualify. The asset test is waived by nearly all states that utilize categorical eligibility.

States eliminate this test because it unproductively punishes those who have managed to put money aside before falling on harder times. Without SNAP support, these families would have to spend down their savings. Many could end up in greater debt or poverty if they face any of a multitude of surprise costs that Americans face every day. Examples are unexpected medical bills or a broken-down car that needs repairs.

The Trump administration’s message is essentially that these clients have been too forward-thinking about their limited finances, and must therefore have their progress erased.

These are just a handful of examples of how Trump is pushing families into a self-fulfilling and cyclical form of poverty. None of the proposed “reforms” described above reforms has taken effect, but the threat they pose to underserved families should not be overlooked.

The Camden County freeholder board is committed to protecting society’s most vulnerable citizens, which includes children and individuals with low incomes. If the current presidential administration has any interest at all in that goal, it must abandon this misguided crusade and join us in an effort to address the root causes of poverty and hunger.

Carmen Rodriguez is a Camden County freeholder who serves as liaison to the county Board of Social Services.

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