Pennsylvania’s work requirement waiver for food stamps now lasts through Aug. 31, 2025.
This is despite recent urging from Republican House lawmakers to apply the mandate to able-bodied adults with no dependents. State data shows nearly 200,000 residents of the more than 2 million enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, fall into this category.
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The cost of food assistance in the U.S. has dropped from its peak during the pandemic, but is still 23% higher than it was during pre-pandemic times, according to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, what used to be called food stamps, peaked in costs December 2022 at $11.07 billion that month. That monthly cost dropped to $7.51 billion as of April 2024. There were about 41.6 million people collecting SNAP benefits as of April 2024.
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The monthly costs for the thrifty plan for a family of four participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is increasing by 31% over the last three years.
The United States Department of Agriculture stated the food stamp benefit amounts are based every year upon the cost of the Thrifty Food Plan.
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Design flaws in the federal food stamp program hinder recipients’ upward economic mobility and effectively force them into governmental dependency.
That’s the upshot of a new Georgia Center for Opportunity report exploring possible solutions for addressing the benefits cliffs in safety-net programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
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A security expert says Congress should reduce food stamp fraud as it faces a Saturday deadline to renew the Farm Bill.
Haywood Talcove is the CEO of LexisNexis Risk Solutions’ Government Group, which provides fraud prevention tools to 26 state unemployment programs and 50 U.S. banks.
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The 2023 fiscal year is on track to average the highest number of individuals on food stamps in the U.S. since 2016.
There were 42,329,101 on food assistance on average each month on through the first nine months of the fiscal year, as of June 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The fiscal year is completed at the end of September.
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The U.S. federal program formerly known as food stamps had peak spending levels in 2023 that were more than double pre-pandemic times.
Now, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is set to be reauthorized as it reaches the end of its five-year budgeting cycle.
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The Ivy League school Harvard University is now encouraging its students to start using food stamps rather than spend money on food.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, a flier for an event hosted earlier this year by Harvard’s Health Services asks students “did you know that Grad Students may qualify to receive assistance paying for food & groceries?”
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For the first time since the COVID pandemic, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released the fiscal year 2022 national payment error rate for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The PER measures how accurately SNAP agencies determine benefit amounts and eligibility. A payment error means the agency either underpaid or overpaid the recipient, which can result from an error by the agency or a recipient or fraud.
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Two Pennsylvania state lawmakers are spearheading legislation to curb food-stamp fraud by limiting the balances recipients can accumulate.
Representative Ann Flood (R-Pen Argyl) is drafting a bill requiring the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) to request a federal waiver allowing the commonwealth to cap the benefits a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) user can amass. Kerry Beninghoff (R-Bellefonte) has meanwhile begun preparing a resolution asking the Biden administration to set such limits itself. Currently, the federally funded but state administered entitlement does not require those who draw SNAP benefits to spend them in order to remain eligible for them.
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The federal government significantly and intentionally misreports income distribution, sparking bad policies and political divisions.
That’s the argument former senator Phil Gramm and two other economists, Robert Ekelund and John Early, lay out in their compelling and essential new book, “The Myth of American Inequality: How Government Biases Policy Debate.”
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The number of individuals receiving food stamps in Tennessee has dropped to the lowest levels since November 2003, according to data released by the federal government.
There were 786,502 people receiving food assistance in Tennessee in August 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which recently updated its data on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
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The cost of Michigan’s food stamp program has more than doubled since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The costs have increased from $1.70 billion in 2018-19 to $3.61 billion in 2021-22 with one month left in the fiscal year.
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The U.S. army is recommending soldiers apply for SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps, to help cover their rising costs from inflation.
The U.S. Army cites the higher prices on a range of goods because of inflation in its recently released official guidance.
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Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich led a lawsuit with 12 other attorneys general against the Biden administration for dropping the Public Charge rule implemented in 2018 underneath the Trump administration, which ended up at the Supreme Court on Wednesday for oral arguments. The Public Charge rule made noncitizens ineligible for green cards if they are receiving public assistance, which was U.S. policy for over 100 years.
“The United States is indeed the land of the free and of industrious immigrants, but it is not a welfare state,” said Brnovich in a statement about Arizona v. City and County of San Francisco. “The Biden Administration has once again caved to far-left groups attempting to erase a common-sense law that we’ve had in various forms for more than 100 years.”
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A recent administrative action has permanently increased benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by 25 percent. Unfortunately, this historic boost fails to address the structural problems that plague this nearly 60-year-old program.
The official Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) webpage proudly proclaims that, “SNAP provides nutrition benefits to supplement the food budget of needy families so they can purchase healthy food…”
To that admirable end, the program formerly known as food stamps distributed $79 billion to 40 million people last year. Yet this desire to provide wholesome food to needy families conflicts with clear evidence that wholesome food is not what they think they need. Whether they play by the rules or not, people receiving SNAP benefits currently spend between 70-100 percent of that benefit on things other than healthy food.
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After a major update to the food stamp system, known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), recipients will see a massive increase in food stamp handouts in the month of October, according to CNN.
Benefits will rise by approximately 27 percent compared to pre-pandemic levels, the largest such increase in the program’s history. Even after the special extension and increase that was implemented specifically due to the COVID-19 pandemic has expired, the regular handouts will go up due to a revision of the Thrifty Food Plan.
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is reporting an error rate of 7.36 percent for its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for fiscal year 2019.
Despite the error rate, and after state government shutdowns over the coronavirus, the federal government significantly extended emergency SNAP funding for states to distribute.
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The U.S. House Committee on Oversight is holding hearings to analyze the Trump administration’s rule change designed to end automatic eligibility to the federal food stamp program for recipients of another federal welfare program.
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Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison joined 15 attorneys general and New York City in filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration over changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps.
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Nearly 700,000 Americans will lose their access to federal food stamps under new rules formalized by the Trump administration, the Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday.
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by Whitney Tipton The United States Department of Agriculture proposed Monday eliminating a loophole in food stamp eligibility requirements that would cut 3.1 million people from the program and save $2.5 billion. Those who receive temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) will not longer be automatically eligible to get food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) if the rule is enacted, according to the USDA. “Some states are taking advantage of loopholes that allow people to receive the SNAP benefits who would otherwise not qualify and for which they are not entitled,” said USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue, according to Reuters. The USDA wants to change the current rule in 43 states that make TANF recipients automatically eligible for SNAP benefits. Instead, TANF recipients must apply for SNAP and submit to a review of their assets and income to determine if they are qualified. The proposed rule is expected to result in removing 3.1 million people from the program, according to the USDA. It will also result in a cost savings of $2.5 billion, the agency said. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the change could save the federal government $8.1 over the next 10 years. Trump tried…
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A Minnesota state senator wants to tighten the rules on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) after a local millionaire, in full compliance with the law, collected food stamps for more than a year. Rob Undersander was on Fox Business Thursday to explain how he pulled it off, noting that eligibility for SNAP is based on income only in Minnesota. “I was doing some volunteer work for the Central Minnesota Council on Aging where we helped seniors sign up for Medicare plans, navigate numerous resources and other social programs. I received formal training for this from the state of Minnesota. During one of the classes, they handed out a food stamp application in the event that we needed to help seniors fill it out, explaining that eligibility is based on income only. In comparison, for many other programs eligibility was ascending income limits and assets for descending benefits,” Undersander said. “In other words, if a person has money in the bank or in their retirement account, they don’t necessarily need government assistance. At the time, my wife and I were recently retired, drawing very little income, living off our savings—living very well. And I thought to myself: would I…
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In 1996 the United States Congress passed welfare reform, which added work requirements for able-bodied adults receiving food stamps, now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Under President Obama in his 2009 stimulus bill, a waiver was created that allows states and local governments to opt out of those work, training and volunteer requirements. State Representative Scott Wiggam (R-Wooster) has introduced House Bill 200 to restore the dignity of work in Ohio. According the analysis of the bill, “SNAP recipients must meet work-related eligibility requirements to remain (in) the program.” The requirements for all non-disabled individuals between the ages of 16 and 59, include the following: accepting a job offer registering for work not voluntarily quitting a job or reducing hours worked participating in a state-offered SNAP employment and training program Additional requirements are in place for Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWDs) to obtain benefits with HB 200. “Individuals between the ages of 18 and 49 who have no dependents and are not disabled…can only receive SNAP benefits for up to three months every three years,” the analysis states. The only exceptions are if: the ABAWD is working at least 20 hours per week the ABAWD is participating…
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by Tim Pearce The Trump administration is proposing to limit states’ ability to exempt welfare recipients of abiding by the work requirements in the U.S. food stamp program, the Department of Agriculture announced Thursday. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue is pushing the reform to cut down on abuse within the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). With the U.S. unemployment rate at a near five-decade low, some exemptions and waivers are not longer needed. “Long-term reliance on government assistance has never been part of the American dream,” Perdue said in a statement. “As we make benefits available to those who truly need them, we must also encourage participants to take proactive steps toward self-sufficiency. Moving people to work is common-sense policy, particularly at a time when the unemployment rate is at a generational low.” SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps, are an entitlement distributed by the Department of Agriculture. The program provides financial aid to low- and no-income Americans who meet income, work and other requirements. Perdue’s proposed change would limit states from waiving off some of the entitlement’s requirements for people living in areas of high unemployment, defined as either over 10 percent unemployment or the where there are…
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U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN-04), a member of the House Agriculture Committee, said in a press release Wednesday he voted for the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018. The House-Senate agreement sets national agriculture policy for the next five years, and President Donald Trump will likely sign it, DesJarlais said. DesJarlais, a House Freedom Caucus member, was an outspoken proponent of changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps, which would help more Americans gain job training and employment in an economy where an estimated 6 million job openings outnumber the unemployed. AARP Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy & Engagement Officer Nancy LeaMond signaled her appreciation of the act’s passage. She said, “AARP applauds Congress for passing the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018. This legislation protects access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). We are particularly pleased that the bill rejected harmful changes to the law’s work requirements that would have made it harder for older Americans to access SNAP benefits.” DesJarlais said, “Especially in Tennessee’s Fourth District, where Rutherford County is one of the fastest-growing in the U.S., the economy requires skilled workers to fill good-paying jobs. But able-bodied, working-age adults receiving food…
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U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn ordered four Bangladeshi brothers convicted of scamming Michigan and American taxpayers out of millions of dollars in food-stamp benefits to write about it in a local newspaper. Cohn ordered the men to run an ad admitting to their crimes, and pay for it themselves. “To Readers, listen to us. If you cheat on food stamps you are committing a federal crime and will be punished for doing so,” the ad states. “We know: we have been punished for cheating on food stamps.” The fraud was committed in Hamtramck, a city that adjoins Detroit and is heavily populated with immigrants from Bangladesh. It made the news in 2015 for becoming the first U.S. city with an entirely Muslim city council. The four men, brothers Ali, Nazar, Mustak, and Mohammed Ahmed, were arrested by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2014 after an investigation revealed that six small grocery stores in Hamtramck were responsible for scamming the government out of $12.5 million between 2013 and 2014, using the practice of “trafficking” in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. The practice of trafficking is a multi-million dollar scam widespread throughout the country, as the Government Accountability Institute (GA)I) recently found…
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The Pennsylvania Office of Inspector General and the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office announced last week that they are joining forces to tackle welfare fraud, specifically food-stamp fraud. Commonly referred to as the food-stamp program, the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has increasingly become a concern among law-enforcement officials. Due to the extent of the fraud and the ease with which it has been carried out, as well as the apparent lack of desire to tackle it until now, fraud had “ballooned” from 2012-2016 during President Barack Obama’s term in office. Most recently, the Government Accountability Institute (GAI) released a stunning report linking the misuse of food-stamp dollars to international terrorism as the practice of “trafficking” raked in millions of dollars for fraudulent convenience stores nationwide. The findings from GAI’s groundbreaking report, titled “EBTerrorism: How Fraud Ridden SNAP Funds Terror, Fails at Enforcement and Wastes Taxpayer Money,” were reported by The Ohio Star last week. In short, the trafficking involved individuals selling their benefits to store owners and managers for less than what they were worth, while the recipients turned them in for full value. Such fraud will be the focus of Pennsylvania’s efforts to find and prosecute those running welfare…
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On Friday’s Gill Report – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 1510 WLAC weekdays at 7:30 am – Star News National Political Editor Steve Gill talked about the recent liquor license revocation at a small lounge called Sharky’s in Harrison Township Ohio. He was perplexed about the Ohio Investigative Unit’s focus on a small two thousand dollar misuse of food stamps instead of perhaps bigger fish to fry. Gill said: Well some bad news for those who live in Harrison Township in Ohio, well maybe it’s not sad news for everybody just those who want to use their food stamps to go buy liquor, drugs, and well an occasional lap dance at a strip club. Sharky’s lounge is in Harrison Township in Ohio and they lost their liquor license yesterday. The Ohio liquor control commission revoked the adult entertainment clubs license, according to the Ohio Investigative Unit. Now they had begun investigating the club, known as Sharky’s back in May of 2017. So, it was a long investigation. It takes a lot to find out what these are up to sometimes. Anyway, during the investigation agents say they were able to buy drugs and lap dances from strippers by using food…
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Tennessee is increasingly adopting “a two-generation approach” to fighting poverty, which combines the focus on parents and children when it comes to food stamps and other cash assistance programs. The approach may indeed pay off and is being implemented across more and more states, yet, it still appears to be an experiment without much hard data to back it up as ending in significant success. Meanwhile, many have argued for years that such programs only extend and even expand poverty. From 2013: Since 2007, the number of Americans on SNAP has exploded, going from approximately 22 million people at the start of the recession in 2008 to more than 45 million in 2013. The program provides these families a much-needed safety net as they struggle to get back on their feet, according to Jennifer Brooks, policy director with the progressive Corporation for Enterprise Development based in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, calls to reform the system from the Right, as with this one from the Heritage Foundation, often go ignored. For now, this seems to be the direction Tennessee officials are choosing and only the future will determine if it’s a success. Tennessee’s agency that administers food stamps and cash assistance programs…
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Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam announced this week that the state will bring back the federal work requirement for able-bodied adults receiving food stamps that was waived in 2008 because of the recession. The requirement, to be reinstated across most of the state starting Feb. 1, will affect adults without dependents in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), according to a news release issued Monday. The waiver will remain in place in 16 counties considered economically distressed and that have a labor surplus. More than one million Tennesseans currently receive food stamps. The reinstated work requirement will likely impact 58,000 adults currently not meeting the requirement. The state has a total population of 6.65 million. As the economy has recovered nationwide, many other states have fully or partially restored their work requirements. “This waiver was necessary at a time when people were hurting from the recession,” said Haslam, a Republican. “But nearly a decade later, Tennessee is one of the top locations in the Southeast for high quality jobs, and it’s now difficult to justify waiving the work requirement for adults without dependents who are able to work. We have experienced record low unemployment rates and substantial job growth in Tennessee, and if…
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President Trump’s proposal to cut food stamp funding has drawn howls of protest but supporters say critics are overreacting. The cuts are part of Trump’s budget plan for the 2018 fiscal year. Titled “A New Foundation For American Greatness”, the plan was presented to Congress on Tuesday. The plan also calls for cuts to welfare programs including Medicaid as well as cuts in funding for climate change and medical research. In April, more than 1 million people in Tennessee, representing more than 500,000 households, used the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, according to a state government website. Tennessee has a total population of around 6.6 million. Called SNAP, the program offers benefits formerly known as food stamps and still often called that informally. The total cost of the issuance in Tennessee for April was more than $128 million. Shelby County had by far the largest number of people on food stamps with nearly 220,000 individuals receiving benefits. Trump’s proposal for reforming SNAP includes closing eligibility loopholes, targeting the neediest households for help and requiring able-bodied adults to work. The reforms would reduce costs while maintaining basic assistance for low-income families to help them get through hard times, the proposal says. Estella Mayhue-Greer,…
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It’s time for America to get up off the couch, at least according to President Donald Trump and his budget team. The president is proposing the most ambitious welfare reform since the 1990s, focusing on requiring able-bodied adults who don’t have children to work in order to receive Food Stamps. “He’s really getting back to real…
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