SNAP exemptions being implemented as work requirements increase

Work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) were one of the most controversial elements of the recently approved debt ceiling package. SNAP provides low income households with an average of $6.10 per person, per day, to help buy food.

Under the Fiscal Responsibility Act, both Republicans and Democrats got something they wanted. 

Republicans increased the work requirement age from 49 to 54. Now, able-bodied adults ages 18 to 54 can receive only three months of assistance every three years, unless they meet certain requirements like working or training 80 hours per month. 

“At the end of the day, it saves more money, cause what does a work requirement do? It’s only on able-bodied people with no dependents,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said of the requirements on Fox News Sunday. “Instead of borrowing money from China to pay somebody to sit on the couch, we now give them the process to go get a job. Every study has shown when you do that, it puts people to work. And when they work, what happens? More people are paying into Social Security and Medicare.”

Democrats were able to add exemptions for certain vulnerable groups including homeless individuals, veterans and youth aging out of foster care. 

Now a group of Democrats are urging the Biden administration to implement those exemptions as quickly as possible.

Sens. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Jon Tester, D-Mont., all chairs of key committees, said it’s vital for the Biden administration to help state agencies. 

“This is particularly timely as states work to reinstate the ‘able-bodied’ time limits following the end of the Public Health Emergency,” the senators said in a letter to cabinet secretaries. “We also encourage you to work together to ensure that local partner agencies and direct service organizations working with exempt individuals in our communities have the information they need to ensure their clients have full access to the assistance for which they are eligible.”

The Fiscal Responsibility Act states the changes need to take effect no later than Sept. 1. It will be a massive undertaking because SNAP is a federally funded program that is largely run at the state level.