[W]ASHINGTON — A House committee advanced a bill that would make significant changes to a widely used food security program Wednesday.
The reforms to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps, are included in the farm bill — a sweeping piece of legislation that reauthorizes programs in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The bill expands the work requirements for people who receive benefits under the food safety net program, invests in workforce training programs, changes eligibility conditions and more.
Advocates say the proposal would result in thousands of Vermonters losing access to the benefit.
The legislation was released earlier this month as there has already been attention on tightening employment requirements for those who receive benefits from public assistance programs.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this month directing federal agencies to enforce work requirements already in place on federal benefits programs, and to consider adding them to new programs.
At a House Agriculture Committee meeting Wednesday, the section on reforms to the food stamps program was the most controversial aspect of the 641-page bill.
During the daylong hearing on the legislation, Democrats repeatedly attacked the proposed changes to SNAP, charging that the changes would result in more than a million Americans losing access to a benefit they rely on, and questioning the efficacy of work requirements.
“This farm bill is mean, the farm bill that you’re putting here is hurtful, the farm bill here is deceitful, it is un-American and it is filled with racial vicissitudes,” Rep. David Scott , D-Ga., said.
But proponents of the bill defended the proposal, saying that it will help people to transition off of food stamps. The bill includes $1 billion a year to help states build workforce training programs.
“These reforms are not cruel, as some would have us believe,” Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Iowa, said at the hearing. “What is cruel is doing nothing to reform a system which perpetuates permanent reliance on government benefits and offers no path for people to provide a better life for themselves and their family.”
Most adults between the ages of 18 and 59 would be required to work or participate in a training program at least 20 hours per week, under the proposal in the legislation. Current law caps work requirements at age of 50.
It also expands requirements on parents. Currently people who care for a child under age 18 are exempt from the work requirements. The legislation would lower that threshold so only those with a child under age 6 are exempt.
If recipients do not meet the 20 hour per week requirement, they would lose access to the program for a year.
The bill also limits the household income that would qualify for SNAP benefits and changes how applicant’s assets are calculated for their eligibility.
Anore Horton, acting executive director of Hunger Free Vermont, said she is worried the proposal would exacerbate hunger issues.
“It’s going to make more people hungry, it’s going to make more people desperate, it’s going to make people’s attempts to stabilize their situation … even harder,” she said.
Horton said that many Vermont households that rely on SNAP may have limited opportunities to work because of education levels, or could be restricted from working by medical conditions or because they can’t afford childcare.
The requirement to work 20 hours a week could be particularly challenging for Vermonters, where many jobs are seasonal, she said.
“To simply require them to either work or have their nutrition benefit taken away from them for a year is not going to do anything but have more people go hungry,” she said.
It can be a challenge for people to find stable jobs, she said. Meanwhile, she doubts that the money for expanding states’ work training programs will provide enough slots.
In a statement last week, Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said the bill would “inflict immediate harm” on many households.
“It is simply beyond comprehension that Congress would slash nutrition programs on the heels of passing a tax cut for the wealthiest Americans,” Welch said. “I will do all I can to stop these provisions from becoming law.”
Sean Brown, the Vermont Department for Children and Families deputy commissioner who oversees the economic services division, said that he had not yet had gone through the details of the House bill to see how it would affect the state’s program. The department manages SNAP in Vermont, 3 Squares VT, as well as many other federal public assistance programs.
In an interview last week, Brown said it was not yet clear how eligibility requirements would shift as a result of Trump’s executive order.
The impact in Vermont would depend on the details of the changes, he said. Some programs already have “fairly substantial” work requirements, he said.
“Some changes could be positive, and some changes could not,” he said.
