More than 750 thousands in need may be left without food stamps due to innovations

Three-quarters of a million people may lose their right to receive food stamps by the end of this year in accordance with the new proposal of the Trump administration.

Фото: Depositphotos

The established goal of innovation is to encourage able-bodied adults to go to work and receive government assistance. Opponents of this idea indicate that people will have to starve if the proposal enters into force.

For the period of public voting, which ends on April 2, 28 000 comments have been collected to date. Overwhelmingly, people were against the proposed rule.

Those who may be affected by the proposed benefit changes are generally able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWD). In 2016, this category included 4 million adults who received food stamps. About three-quarters were unemployed, according to the USDA.

According to the head of the Department of Agriculture Sonny Predyu, the administration believes that these people should be able to get a job, especially now that the country's unemployment rate is the lowest in recent years.

“We believe our social security system should help people become independent rather than permanent dependents,” she said. “We think we can help people get back into work and start providing for their families.”

To this end, the administration will stop issuing food stamps to able-bodied adults who do not work or do not undergo vocational training for at least 20 hours a week in three months. Many states reject this requirement in regions with high unemployment.

In the Franciscan Center in Baltimore, where the poor come every day for food, clothes and other help, people understand why the opposition is so zealously opposed.

"I'm really dependent on these places now," said Alton Royal, 41, who carries a small bag with a couple bottles and two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. “This is my food for the rest of the day.”

Royal receives $ 185 per month in SNAP benefits. Now he is experiencing that he will lose them in accordance with the rules, since he cannot find a job because of a severe injury to his leg and a criminal record.

“But I have to eat. I have to try to find a job, but it limits me,” Royal says.

Others need other problems in the form of homelessness, mental illness and drug addiction. Some are already working, but this is not enough to meet the threshold in 20 hours per week. One man said that he works as a janitor at the Baltimore stadium when a baseball team trains or plays in the city. In winter, hopes for food stamps.

“Everyone I know wants to work,” Royal says.

Michael Wilson, director of the Maryland Hunger Solutions advocacy group, which opposes innovations, says that threatening to deprive people of food will not help them get a job. The administration admits that the new rules will save $ 8 billion in five years due to the fact that 755 000 people will not meet the new requirements. Approximately 30 000 of them live in Maryland.

For the most part, SNAP enjoys strong bipartisan support. A similar requirement (to work) from applicants for benefits was rejected by Congress last year, when lawmakers discussed the new law on farms. President Trump announced the proposed rule the same day that he signed the bill.

As a result, Congressional Democrats threatened to sue if the change came into force this year.

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