Entrance to the Big Lots store in Portland, Oregon. (Stock Photo by Hapabapa/Getty Images)
Democrats from the American sub -community for food and nutrition policy warned on Tuesday that major changes in the main federal nutrition assistance program in the Act on expenditure and reduction of Republican taxes this year will lead to limitation of benefits.
The law, which was supported by President Donald Trump, and that Congress passed this summer without any democratic votes, made significant changes in the program of additional nutritional assistance or Snap, which increased the burden of state budgets.
Members of each party on the Subcommittee on agriculture of the US Chamber for nutrition and foreign agriculture did not agree during the interrogation on the impact of these changes on states.
The Democrats said that the changes would undermine the basic goals of the counteracting program, while the Republicans stated that they would raise the long -term health of the program.
Countries predict that they are subject to Snap
A panel of three experts, including the director of the Wyoming Department, who supervises the benefits of this state of SNAP and the Franklin, Ohio counting administrator, said that countries that cannot meet the new financing requirements would completely stop offering the program.
“As it was written at present, if the state cannot meet the division of the costs of benefits and (administrative) the division of costs, it would not be able to run the SNAP program,” said Chloe Green, head of food programs at American public associations of human human services, a commercial group representing government officials supervising social programs.
The data also addressed a question to Joy Bivens, deputy administrator of the Franklin, Ohio, and Korin Schmidt, director of the Wyoming Family Services Department of Frankin, and Korin Schmidt. They both said they agreed with Green.
“What this bill has done was to create the potential of SNAP programs that do not exist in any shape, form or fashion when it comes to ensuring the benefits of SNAP in states that could not afford or decide not to decide for any reason, meet the division of costs,” said figures.
All three witnesses said that it was an precise assessment of the law.
New cost division
The provisions of the law mean that the countries are for the first time responsible for paying participation in SNAP benefits.
The share for which the countries will be responsible depends on the rate of state error payment – the percentage of payment of benefits, which are less or less than the amount to be paid – with the federal government covering all costs of benefit for states that record an error level below 6%. States with higher error levels will be responsible for more financing.
Democrats claimed that the changes were determined by the state’s budget efforts.
The law also limits the financing of countries to administer the program that Angie Craig, the Democrat ranking in the full committee, said “the perfect storm”.
She said that reduced federal financing and extended reporting requirements raise the likelihood of errors, while increased errors lead to even less financing.
“As a result, the Republicans reduced the resources, and then punished them when the worked staff made more mistakes administering in an increasingly complex program,” said Craig of Minnesota about the United States. “None of these changes help reduce hunger in our communities.”
Republicans defend Snap’s decision
Republicans disregarded the influence of law, saying that some democrats are “afraid” and that the changes would aid the long -term health of the program.
“Congress can no longer turn the eye to countries that, inappropriate federal funds at the expense of sensitive families,” said the chairman of the Brad Finstad subcommittee, a Republican from Minnesota.
The Wisconsin Derrick Van Orden Republican said he was growing up on food bont and he wanted the program to succeed. He said that the requirement for countries with a higher level of errors to pay participation in benefits would consist in effective program management.
“The goal is not to acquire people from programs,” said Van Orden. “The purpose of this is to encourage responsible bureaucracy.”
Countries have difficulty planning
State error indicators in the next tax year, which begins on October 1, will determine their division of costs for SNAP for a period of up to two years.
However, the states did not receive tips from the US Department of Agriculture, how to navigate the new system, said Green.
This contributed to the confusion for the states that for the first time look for financing the benefits of SNAP.
“We have heard the serious fears of our members throughout the country that their countries are able to fulfill (costs) that have been postponed on them,” she said.
A few state that the budget in a two -year cycle faces an additional challenge of trying to throw in the future, not knowing what their costs will be, said North Karolina Democrat Alma Adams.
“States are asked for a budget for costs, which they do not even know only in October 2027.” she said. “In combination with other new duties related to the division of costs for cuts Medicaid in one large, ugly account, puts states in an impossible position.”
Wyoming success success?
Schmidt told the panel that the tool known as Front-End qualifying allows her agency to reduce errors. The procedure enables the examination of fraud and other incorrect documents before issuing the payment, reducing the costs of chasing incorrect payments after the fact.
Wyoming, which Schmidt described as diminutive and conservative, has little space for a mistake.
“This is not a good use of our little staff to go to prosecute, but look at potential fraud at the beginning of the case, and then deciding whether this case should be considered for benefits,” she said.
Republicans on the panel asked Schmidt questions about how Wyoming, which he had among the lowest levels of errors in the country, amounting to 3.27% in the 2024 tax year, was able to launch his program with such a diminutive number of errors.
But Massachusetts Democrat Jim McGovern questioned this example, saying that the Wyoming model was not balanced for larger countries. He said that Wyoming, who has fewer inhabitants than virtually all housing districts in the USA, spends more on a person than any other state.
“I am glad that someone from Wyoming is here to talk about how to lower the level of errors,” said McGovern. “Wyoming spends 100 USD per person to administer SNAP. This is the most in the country. So if the purpose of this interrogation is to suggest that other states should have the same level of error as Wyoming, you will have to double or triple, how much this country spends on food, and not to cut food, as you did in this large, sharp bill.”
