Food stamp purge could benefit from study, compromise
Published June 1, 2017
Editorial by Wilson Daily Times, May 25, 2017.
Some state legislators want to turn away federal funds that provide free meals for Wilson County schoolchildren.
The N.C. Senate’s spending plan would eliminate a provision that allows families to qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program if members receive other forms of government assistance. The loophole applies when household income exceeds the SNAP eligibility threshold and the families wouldn’t otherwise qualify.
Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, told the News & Observer he closed the loophole in the Senate budget “to ensure benefits are delivered to those who are truly in need of them,” pointing out that the eligibility guideline could allow families with “valuable assets or savings in the bank” to receive food stamps.
If the budget provision is passed, roughly 133,000 people would see their nutrition benefits cut. That includes 51,236 children, according to the advocacy group NC Child.
Here in Wilson County, 1,534 individuals could lose their food stamps, including 573 students in the public school system. SNAP eligibility allows some students to receive free breakfast and lunch.
The issue has become a partisan hot potato, with Republican supporters citing the need to prevent waste and abuse and Democratic opponents casting the plan as a cynical swipe at the poor.
Gov. Roy Cooper noted that the food stamp opt-in for families receiving other benefits doesn’t strain the state budget — North Carolina receives federal funds to administer the SNAP program.
Hise might have a valid concern about benefits being diverted to those who don’t really need SNAP and only qualify because a family member is on disability or receives veteran benefits. But he’s thus far failed to demonstrate the scope of this supposed problem.
Is his example of a food-stamp family with plenty of cash in the bank taken from a case study, or is it merely hypothetical? No one knows.
Buried 114 pages deep in the Senate budget, Hise’s provision to close the SNAP eligibility loophole wasn’t debated on the floor and, as the N&O noted, only came to light after left-leaning think tank N.C. Policy Watch sounded the alarm.
“Policy changes that don’t get the debate or the scrutiny that they deserve when they are buried in the spending bill are not what we want to be doing in the North Carolina General Assembly,” said Rep. Jean Farmer-Butterfield, D-Wilson. “They have the potential to make major changes to the system and the services that reach into our communities and families. They deserve debate, scrutiny and research before we make major changes like this.”
We agree with Farmer-Butterfield’s assessment. Hise’s budget addendum would have benefited from open debate and feedback from fellow lawmakers.
The Senate could have reached a compromise where the cross-program eligibility guideline remained intact but SNAP beneficiaries with sufficient savings or assets would be disqualified. That would address Hise’s stated concern without the unintended consequences of a mass purge.
If some SNAP recipients don’t have a legitimate need for nutrition assistance, they should be identified and removed from the rolls. But indiscriminately stripping benefits from 133,000 people is a sloppy overcorrection, not a savvy reform.
June 3, 2017 at 2:20 pm
Norm Kelly says:
Two quick thoughts.
1.) N.C. Policy Watch is a 'left-leaning think tank'? Really? Just 'left-leaning'? When a 'right-leaning think tank' is used as a source, they are usually described as 'arch right-wing', 'highly partisan right-wing', 'alt-right partisan' or some other negative connotation. But when an ultra left-wing, arch left-wing, partisan left-wing group is used as a source or in any way referenced, either their political leaning isn't mentioned or it's described in the lightest means possible. Kinda like 'left-leaning'. Kinda wishy-washy. Regardless of how far left, out of touch, socialist, darn-near communist that group is, the liberal author chooses to describe the leftist group in mild terms. Wonder why?
2.) Once again we have indication that regardless of the merit of ANY budget cut, some leftist, arch-left-wing zealot, and most demoncrats are opposed to the cut. It's true, as the author points out, that those who don't need the program shouldn't have the program, I wonder which demoncrat would accept it or allow it without great grumbling and calling Republicans all sorts of vile names. When was the last time ANY demoncrat accepted a budget cut, an actual budget cut, or reducing the rolls of some gov't program, or even purging voting rolls of dead people? Please provide specific examples. (don't include the schools budget cut last enacted by demoncrats. we all know demons were the last group to actually cut school spending. that doesn't count, cuz all teachers and all media allies choose to ignore this as an actual cut, tell lies about it, or try to make it out like the Republicans did it! provide other, real examples; i won't hold my breath!)
