House Ag Committee Chair Mike Conaway says Democrats are not accurately portraying the changes he’s proposing to overhaul the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program(SNAP).
Politico quotes Conaway as saying that Democrats on the committee will see the difference between what he’s proposing and “what they’ve been told Republicans are doing,” and will see the value in the idea. Conaway’s proposals include tightening work requirements and eligibility for the SNAP program. The proposals include eliminating broad-based categorical eligibility, breaking the connection between SNAP and a program that subsidizes utility expenses for low-income households, and imposing stricter work requirements on roughly five million people.
Democrats also oppose what would be a mandatory employment and training program at the state level. An estimated one million people would no longer be eligible for the program. Democrats also say benefits would be slashed by $20 billion over a decade under the Conaway plan. Conaway says he doesn’t know where that $20 billion figure came from but says no one would be kicked off SNAP.
The one million people leaving the program would either have a job that pays more than 130 percent of the poverty level, or they decide not to work at least 20 hours a week or enroll in a training program.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.