The debt ceiling deal in Washington comes with food assistance changes that could harm some vulnerable populations but assist others, a Washington-based policy analyst said.
The agreement hammered out ahead of a pending default deadline and signed by President Joe Biden June 2, includes changes to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program, also known as food stamps, according to a May 31 Center on Budget and Policy Priorities report. The CBPP is a nonpartisan research organization.
"The impact of the new exemptions from this requirement for certain vulnerable groups is more uncertain," CBPP Senior Policy Analyst Katie Bergh said in a May 31 Twitter post. "But improvements for some (and let's be clear - the # who would be newly exempt is potentially significant) don't justify expanding a failed, harmful policy to others."
The debt ceiling agreement's SNAP changes will increase hunger and poverty among older low-income people, but the new exemptions would help some, the report said. SNAP has long been a critical safety net program for millions of low-income Americans.
The agreement includes the expansion of SNAP's work-reporting requirement, which the report says would put about 750,000 adults aged 50 to 54 at risk of losing food assistance. This age group reportedly faces barriers to employment, various health conditions and are often caught up in bureaucratic red tape. The changes target people in that age group who are not veterans or homelessness who now will have to consistently meet a 20-hour per week work requirement or provide documentation of their work efforts.
Loss of SNAP benefits, averaging $8 per person per day, would deepen poverty for these individuals, who often have very low incomes, according to the report.
The report also cites studies that show SNAP's work-reporting requirement before the debt ceiling deal does not improve employment or earnings but, instead, leads to a significant number of eligible individuals losing their food assistance. The expansion is based on the false premise that low-income individuals receiving benefits do not work and must be compelled to do so, perpetuating unfounded stereotypes, according to the report.
The new exemptions will be a positive for some but not enough to justify expanding work requirements, the report stated.
"It is uncertain how many people the new exemptions would help because the data for assessing the impact are imperfect and the impact of both policy changes would depend on federal and state implementation decisions," the report said.
