Protect SNAP for Underemployed: Join our Webinar March 7, 2019

We are now nearly at the halfway point of the 60-day public comment period on USDA’s proposed rule that threatens to take food off the tables of 755,000 underemployed and unemployed individuals. The loss of SNAP will equate to the loss of more than 8.5 billion meals over the next ten years.

Current federal law requires certain adults to document at least 20 work hours per week in order to receive SNAP benefits, but the USDA proposed rule will take away states’ flexibility to waive this requirement in areas that lack sufficient jobs. If finalized, the proposed rule threatens to take food from nearly 80,000 Washingtonians even though they live in areas of high unemployment.

The proposed rule willfully ignores the structural barriers to gainful employment for this vulnerable population. This includes:

• Lower education attainment
• Age, gender, and racial discrimination
• Lack of reliable public transit to get to job interviews or to jobs in suburban and rural areas

It also ignores the fact that most of the jobs available for SNAP participants are low-wage and have volatile work schedules. This means that the rule applies and can take food away from workers when their hours are cut.

And this rule flies in the face of the will of Congress: the strongly bipartisan Farm Bill passed in December soundly rejected similar policy proposals.

But most of all, this administrative action turns a blind eye to the fact that taking food away from people will not get them jobs; we know what works: good-paying job opportunities, additional education and training for those jobs, and supportive services. Watch for yourself as USDA Sec. Sonny Perdue did not answer a question from Rep. Jim McGovern, asking for the research and data that supports this action.

WHAT YOU CAN DO