What Trump’s enforcement of SNAP work rule means for SC food stamp recipients
Touting a strong economy and historically low unemployment, President Donald Trump’s administration is making it more difficult for states to waive work requirements for food stamp recipients.
But that change, announced earlier this month, will have little impact on how South Carolina decides who is eligible for those benefits.
That’s because in 2016 the state opted — for the first time in about a decade — not to seek a waiver from federal work requirements for able-bodied adults, citing its own improving economy.
The state’s change resulted in 65,000 S.C. residents losing food stamp eligibility in the state from April 2016 through the end of November 2019.
Critics say the new Trump administration policy, which will make it harder for states to qualify for waivers from the work requirement rule, will lead to more people being forced off of the food stamp rolls when there’s another economic downturn.
The rule, set to take effect in April 2020, could result in 688,000 people nationwide losing benefits, according to Department of Agriculture estimates.
But supporters of enforcing work requirements for food stamps say the change will help move people into the workforce.
“We need to encourage people by giving them a helping hand but not allowing it to become an indefinitely giving hand,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue in a statement announcing the change.
“Now, in the midst of the strongest economy in a generation, we need everyone who can work, to work,” Perdue said.
In 2016, then Gov. Nikki Haley announced that South Carolina would forgo a waiver and begin enforcing 20-hour-a-week work requirements for able bodied people on SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The state had sought the waiver for about a decade, including the years following the Great Recession.
Gov. Henry McMaster’s administration also has not applied for work requirement waivers since he took office.
Following the lead of the Trump administration, South Carolina recently has taken additional steps to curb access to programs for the poor for recipients deemed able to work.
Citing the healthy economy, McMaster’s administration also recently won a waiver from the federal Medicaid program allowing the state to require able-bodied Medicaid recipients to work at least 80 hours a month or take part in job or education training, or participate community service.
SNAP numbers falling in SC
In South Carolina, the number of people receiving SNAP benefits — as well as the number of people losing eligibility each year for failing to meet the work requirements — has been on the decline, state officials say.
As of the end of October, South Carolina had 585,000 people receiving SNAP benefits. That number was down from the peak of 879,000 people in 2012.
According to data released by the Department of Social Services, more than 65,000 adults between 18 and 49 years old without dependents lost SNAP benefits since 2016 and never regained them.
However, the number of people who lost benefits has decreased each year since the state gave up its waiver — to 11,808 in the first 11 months of 2019 from 20,696 from April through December 2016.
According to Social Services, the SNAP work rule applies to about 11,759 S.C. residents. The rule requires people between 18 and 49 years old without dependents to work or volunteer for 20 hours a week, or participate in a work training program for six hours a week in order to keep SNAP benefits.
Critics say the number of people losing SNAP benefits could increase under the way Trump’s administration is enforcing work requirements especially if the economy hits the skids.
“Say for example we get hit with a recession, or have high unemployment, or have a disaster and people lose jobs because businesses close,” said Sue Berkowitz, executive director of the South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center. “Then suddenly,” she added, “when we have been able to file a waiver before, now we can’t do that.”
Berkowitz also said that, even though a person may fall in the work requirement age group, other issues may lead to someone having trouble finding or keeping a job.
“Just because you’re determined to be an able-bodied person, doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t have health issues, you don’t have a disclosed mental health issue, or you might not have (a) substance abuse problem that hasn’t been diagnosed,” Berkowitz said. “These are the same folks who don’t have access to doctors, don’t have access to regular providers.”
SNAP benefits also help keep people out of poverty, and losing those benefits could thrust them back into poverty, opponents of the new rule say.
According to a study by the U.S. Census Bureau, South Carolina had among the highest percentage point decreases in poverty in the country because of SNAP.
State says training programs work
But state officials say the decreasing numbers are a sign that the state’s workforce programs are helping.
When Haley announced it would enforce the work requirements for SNAP, her administration touted work training programs including efforts by the DSS and the Department of Employment and Workforce to help people find jobs and move off of public assistance.
A Social Services spokesperson echoed those efforts Tuesday.
“We also are providing education and training programs they can volunteer to participate in to help them meet those requirements,” Social Services spokeswoman Pamela Bryant told The State.
Estimating how many people could come off of the rolls because they don’t meet the work requirements in the future also is hard to determine, Bryant said.
“There’s so many variables that affect that,” Bryant said. “The numbers are always so fluid.”
Bryant said people would no longer be classified as an able bodied adult without dependents if they become pregnant, become a primary caregiver of a child or a disabled adult, or become disabled themselves.
According to NBC News, the Trump administration’s new rule would limit states from waiving the work rules, instead restricting waiver use to those areas that have a 6% unemployment rate or higher.
No South Carolina counties have unemployment that high, according to state data.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in South Carolina was 2.6% in October. According to the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce, Bamberg County had the highest unemployment rate in the state at 4.9%.
How many lost benefits
In 2016, South Carolina began enforcing a 20-hour-a-week work requirement for “able-bodied” adults between 18 and 49 years who don’t have dependents and were receiving SNAP benefits. Here’s how many people lost benefits per year and never regained them since 2016, according to the Department of Social Services.
2016 – 20,696
2017 – 18,882
2018 – 13,827
2019 – 11,808
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that SNAP recipients also can volunteer to meet work requirements.
This story was originally published December 19, 2019 at 5:00 AM.
