Dallas City Wire

WASHINGTON – On April 25, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (TX-30) spoke on the House Floor to denounce Speaker McCarthy's proposed budget bill that would add burdensome work requirements to SNAP recipients over 50 and would result in cuts to nutrition assistance for low-income seniors.

Leader McCarthy's budget bill would:

•    Kick older Americans off SNAP by raising the age limit for those who must meet the stricter work requirements from age 50 to 56.

o    If they are unable to meet the stricter work requirements, they may only receive SNAP benefits for three months in a 36-month period.

How could someone fail to meet the work requirement? Their employer may not give them enough hours to meet the 80 hours a month requirement. They may get sick or have to care for a family member and need to miss hours at work. Through no fault of their own, folks may be kicked off the program. A significant portion of this population is homeless, may struggle with mental health issues, or have difficulty accessing reliable transportation making work, much less steady work, a real challenge.

•    Removes State flexibility to extend benefits beyond three months for individuals with unique and challenging circumstances.

o    These individual exemptions allow a State agency, at its discretion, to extend SNAP eligibility to a limited number of able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) subject to the time limit.

o    Current law allows States to roll over unused time-limit exemptions from year to year.

By preventing States from accruing these exemptions, Republicans are preventing States and local caseworkers from providing an exemption for a person facing unique challenges to meeting the work requirement. For example, a plant could shut down, impacting the local economy, but not high enough to exempt the whole county. In this example, the caseworker could grant individual exemptions to ABAWDs impacted by the closure.

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Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett represents portions of Dallas and Tarrant Counties, with the cities of Dallas, Grand Prairie, DeSoto, Cedar Hill, Lancaster, Duncanville, Glenn Heights, Hutchins, Wilmer, Arlington, Ovilla, and Seagoville.

 

Original source can be found here.