The SNAP fight playbook

With help from Meredith Lee Hill

QUICK FIX

— A lot happened in the farm bill’s most contested arena last week: federal food assistance. MA breaks down what the flood of “marker” bills means for the bill and the playbook as it stands.

— Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack weighed in on the political battle over food assistance on Capitol Hill, and the increasing fear from House Democrats that the House GOP will force the White House into concessions on SNAP work requirements or funding cuts as part of the debt limit and budget fights.

— U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres plans to press EU officials at a meeting this week about the efforts to ensure Russian food and fertilizer exports are not held up due to sanctions concerns. That was the primary complaint lodged by Russia when they agreed to renew a deal allowing Ukrainian grain to cross the blockaded Black Sea.

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Driving the Day

SNAP BATTLE: Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) set off a farm bill firestorm when he introduced a bill to rework and tighten work requirements in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

It formally kicked off a debate over the program’s future in the 2023 farm bill, but SNAP policy is wonky. MA has got you covered.

Need to know:

Current policy: SNAP eligibility is broken into camps: Those who have to meet the general work requirement and those that are subject to the able-bodied adult without dependents work requirement. ABAWDs, as they’re known, are people seeking nutrition assistance who do not have a dependent child.

General requirements are applicable to non-exempt recipients aged 16 to 59, typically families and those with children. Recipients must register for work to receive benefits. They cannot voluntarily quit a job or reduce their hours without good reason while receiving SNAP and must take a suitable job if offered. Recipients may also have to participate in assigned employment and training programs if the state requires them.

ABAWD requirements are more strict for non-exempt individuals. They must work or participate in training for 80 hours per month — twenty hours a week — to receive SNAP for longer than three months within a three-year period. That’s because of the time limit. That means an ABAWD can only receive SNAP for three months within three years if they don’t meet the work requirement. If an ABAWD misses the work requirement for three months within the three-year timetable, they could be cut off from benefits for the remainder. The time limit has been suspended during the pandemic but will return in May.

States can request waivers of the time limit from USDA if they have 10 percent unemployment rates or not enough jobs to provide work for ABAWDs.

“What we do see when the time limit is in place is a lot of folks usually use those countable months up in that first bit of that three-year period. And then they have to wait three years before they can receive benefits again,” said a senior USDA official granted anonymity to speak about SNAP administration.


The playing field:

Republican moves: Republicans have lodged complaints about rising costs of the SNAP program, both by administration actions to boost benefits and what they consider to be loopholes in the work requirement — the “not enough jobs” waiver.

The Johnson bill would remove that rationale for waiving the work requirement time limit. Eighteen states — including California, New York and Illinois — have active waivers. It would also raise the maximum age of ABAWDs, currently 49 years old, to 65. It’d also lower the age of who is considered a dependent.

Senators have weighed in, too. At a hearing last week with Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said he hopes to tighten work requirements in the new farm bill. And Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), who was highly critical of the USDA’s Thrifty Food Plan reevaluation, asked Vilsack how USDA determines whether areas truly don’t have enough jobs — the same “loophole” House Republicans are trying to close.

However, one of the so-called four corners of the farm bill, House Ag Chair G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) has yet to publicly support a work requirement expansion bill.

What would that change do?: It’s too early to say. However, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive think tank, says in a new analysis “more than 10 million people, about 1 in 4 SNAP participants, live in households that would be at risk of losing food assistance benefits under this bill.” CBPP adds that “about 6 million people who would potentially be newly subject to the time limit and at risk of losing eligibility for SNAP, and about 4 million children who live in families that could have their SNAP benefits reduced.”

Senate Dems push back: While House Democrats are concerned about their ability to push back on GOP efforts around SNAP, any major cuts will be dead on arrival in the Senate, according to Ag Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.).

However, some House Democrats are worried that the White House will be forced into agreeing to certain work requirement concessions for food assistance, amid the ongoing debt limit fight. They’re also concerned that House Republicans will try to chip away at SNAP access through smaller technical changes in the farm bill, and Democrats will have to fight tooth and nail just to maintain current access levels.

Stabenow, a member of the chamber’s Democratic leadership, warned during a committee hearing last week that the “threats we are hearing from some in the House in favor of reckless and indiscriminate mandatory budget cuts will result in cuts to all Farm Bill programs.”

“We cannot go backward at a time when our farmers and families need us most,” Stabenow added.

VILSACK WEIGHS IN ON SNAP: Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack told MA that “in addition to all the important work that it does for families, it also helps to subsidize low-wage companies and businesses.”

Vilsack’s comments came after he testified about the recent Thrifty Food Plan update for SNAP and other USDA programs before Senate Ag last week.

“So when people talk to me about work requirements, and how they want to reduce and restrict and have fewer people on SNAP,” Vilsack asked. “My question is, if you’re truly interested in that, are you also taking a look at the [minimum] wage levels?”

MA asked Vilsack if he has any concerns that the White House will be forced into agreeing to certain work requirement concessions for food assistance amid the ongoing debt limit fight. “No, because the White House at this point in time says they’re not — there’s no negotiation,” Vilsack replied.

Though, the White House, which is trying to keep the debt limit and budget fights separate, has indicated that it is willing to negotiate on the budget in general. Some far-right House Republicans, who are trying to link the two efforts, are planning to use their votes for leverage to secure expansions for work requirements in both cases.

MA asked Vilsack about GOP efforts to close what they say are loopholes in the system. He declined to answer.

BLACK SEA GRAIN DEAL: After Russia agreed to extend the Black Sea grain initiative to help export Ukrainian food supplies through Moscow’s military blockade, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres plans to press EU officials at a meeting this week about the efforts to ensure Russian food and fertilizer exports are not held up due to sanctions concerns, according to a U.S. official who was granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Russian food and fertilizer are not under Western sanctions, but shipments have been held up due to concerns about sanctions on Russian oligarchs and banks that control vast swaths of the country’s industries.

As we’ve reported, Russia controls a significant piece of global fertilizer exports. Western officials say Moscow is using the valuable commodity as a means of political influence amid its ongoing war in Ukraine.

Row Crops

— Frozen organic strawberries sold at Costco, Aldi, Trader Joe’s and other retailers have been recalled after the products were linked to five cases of hepatitis A in Washington state, The New York Times reports.

— Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) introduced the Advancing Cutting Edge (ACE) Agriculture Act to support high-risk, high-reward agricultural research and development at the USDA. It would boost funding and expand the scope of the Agriculture Advanced Research and Development Authority (AgARDA).

— The Seattle Times explores seaweed farming, which has grown into a booming industry.

THAT’S ALL FOR MA. Drop us a line: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected].