Georgia cuts thousands from food stamps program over work requirement

[DonViejo]

Source: The Hill



BY OWEN DAUGHTERY - 12/24/18 09:56 AM EST

Georgia has reportedly removed thousands of people from the federal food stamp program in recent months for failing to meet its work requirement amid a planned crackdown by the Trump administration.

The state removed nearly 8,000 people a month from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) between April and October, compared to less than 400 a month from October 2017 through March of this year, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, which cited data from the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS).

Georgia officials told the newspaper that they are now able to better track who is receiving food stamps and remove ineligible recipients through a new data management system.

“We have more data elements available to us with this system than we have had with any of our other eligibility systems,” Jon Anderson, head of DFCS’s Office of Family Independence told the newspaper. “We are more confident in the system being able to identify ABAWDs (able-bodied adults without dependents) than we were in earlier systems.”

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/422722-georgia-cuts-thousands-from-food-stamps-program-over-work-requirement

[sakabatou]

1. Georgia: We're fine with letting people starve

[LakeSuperiorView]

2. Probably tying into the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program too...

Can't purge those that vote Republican...

[sellitman]

3. Georgia: Making The Holidays Special Again

Starve and Good Tidings.

[Judi Lynn]

18. And may Gawd have mercy on their souls if they fail to say "Merry Christmas" to others. n/t

[dlk]

4. This Was Always the Goal

Republicans have always hated anything even remotely connected to the New Deal and have made destroying it their mission for nearly 80 years. The R stands for rich.

[CottonBear]

5. My permanently disabled friend gets $15/month SNAP in GA.

He’s a single, black man in his mid 50s. He was hit by a log truck while riding his bike to work as a school custodian. He walks with a cane and a limp.

He can’t work due to being hit by the truck. It’s a miracle he survived, and all he gets for food is $15/month.

[Judi Lynn]

19. Beyond tragic. That poor, poor man. Those who are happy to see him have to struggle every minute

he's alive deserve the very worst fate can deliver to them. They are dead morally.

[CottonBear]

25. My friend has a happy outlook on life in spite of everything.

He’s learning to read in a local adult reading program and plays in our ukulele group.

His reading instructor helps him with the enormous amount of SNAP and disability paperwork and online computer renewals that is required of those receiving state assistance.

I agree with you, that GOP people are morally dead.

[mahina]

40. Good luck to him.

Ukulele group?

What songs do you folks play?

Do you play Hawaiian music?

[CottonBear]

43. We play all sorts of music, including some Hawaiian music!

We play for fun and host an annual ukulele festival! Our group includes beginners to professional musicians. I’m not a great musician, but I really love playing my uke!

[CountAllVotes]

23. My friend gets $7 a month

Here in the not so sunny part of northern California.

Same stats as your friend but 62 years old.

[CottonBear]

24. Oh no! That is just dreadful.

I am so sorry that they, and everyone else who needs food assistance, are treated with so little compassion by the GOP.

[CountAllVotes]

26. I feel sad for him

He just got a check for several thousand $ from when his father died in 1987 due to asbestos.

He has to sign the check over to SSI as he is allowed to have $2K to his name.

He is technically homeless. At present he is living in a broke down trailer that has a hole in the roof! Good lord! How sad!

I do all I can to HELP my friend as he is my very best friend and a very kind/caring person. So sad.

MAGA MY ASS!

[CottonBear]

34. You are a good and kind friend.

So many good people, like you, are trying to help those in need. It is all just overwhelming sometimes. Hopefully, good will prevail over evil and we can, as a nation, begin to care for all of our people who are in need.

[TexasBushwhacker]

27. Is he getting SSDI?

Did he get some kind of settlement from the logging company/owner of the truck? It's crazy just how low your income has to be to get SNAP if you're single w/out dependents. When I was getting $1157 per month SSDI in 2013 and couldn't work at all, I was still making too much to qualify for SNAP. The income limit has gone up a little now but not much.

[CottonBear]

35. He got a settlement of some sort plus medical expenses.

He receives SSDI. He has a vehicle now.

He wanted to sell small handicrafts to supplement his income, but did not want to jeopardize his SNAP benefits, meager as they are or violate any SS rules. So, he lives very simply.

[TexasBushwhacker]

36. Well, if he gets SSDI he probably doesn't get much in SNAP

Whereas he can earn up to $1180 per month and not jeopardize his SSDI. That's what I currently do, although I'm hoping to return to working full time soon.

[Cryptoad]

6. Does this mean that,,,,,

the children of those who can not work will have to beg for food on the street corners?????

[MichMan]

13. Since it only applies to Able Bodied Adults without children, the answer is no.

[TexasBushwhacker]

37. It means an able bodied person may not get SNAP for themselves

if they don't work at least 20 hours per week, but they may still get it for their children.

[turbinetree]

7. You know what this should be called................death panels

and forcing people to commit crimes to eat...................and this Jon Anderson asshole must be having a fucking organism, being able to "identify" able bodied adults without dependents.....................sick fuckers ................truly sick fucker libertarian assholes...............I wonder if the ALEC meetings they held in Georgia with the Kochs must have been a grand time and just coming up with shit to just to fuck people over ..............


https://stopthecap.com/2015/06/05/atlanta-reporter-discovers-the-insidious-world-of-alec-gets-thrown-out-of-his-hotel-room/

[George II]

8. And yet grain and beans are rotting in silos because of trump's tariffs. Truly sad.

[KWR65]

9. It was Bill Clinton that signed the bill for the work requirement for SNAP.

If times get hard again then the government can lower the standards. This doesn't effect children, elderly or disabled that get SNAP.

[dembotoz]

15. shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[Bengus81]

22. Yeah,except it was tossed in as part of his Welfare to work bill..............

Necessary Improvements

President Clinton has stated that the new law requires several improvements. Specifically, he has pledged to fix two provisions of the welfare bill which he believes have nothing to do with welfare reform.

o Food Stamps.

According to President Clinton, the new law cuts deeper than it should in Food Stamps, mostly for working families who have high shelter costs.

So he didn't agree with the way Republicans stuffed food stamps into a bill for Welfare reform but eventually signed it for Welfare reform.

[Igel]

39. No guarantee that the Georgia requirements are just those.

Could be more restrictive. Might not be. A bit short on facts, once they have the indignation going.

But the first paragraph has the easy inference, "Georgia revised the law recently to hurt people, and it's because of Trump."

It doesn't say either, of course. If the law had been changed recently, *that* would surely have been a big deal. And the crackdown most will read this as being a part of is just "planned." "Planned," of course, has the synonym "not actually occurring."

It's like saying I needed to go to the doctor for a sprained ankle last week, as result of a taking the black diamond slope next month during a planned skiing trip.

[TexasBushwhacker]

28. Single elderly and disabled often make too much

to qualify for SNAP. I know when I was surviving in $1157 in 2013, I would only qualify for $15, so I didn't even bother.

[blue-wave]

10. To My Dear Christian Brethren

in Georgia. As we are now a day away from celebrating the accepted birthday of Jesus Christ, I have but one question. WWJD?

[Achilleaze]

11. The ongoing republican War on Christ's Teachings

[workinclasszero]

17. But the Trump cult worships Republican Jesus (and Trump)

[akraven]

12. Okay, Georgia, supply the damn JOBS!

My daughter lives in Alabama, with her two daughters - and that state is going to do the same thing. You cannot live on the minimum wage in either state. Fortunately, she has a great job. And no, the southern states do NOT care if you starve to death or lose a room to live in - they're such great "Christians".

[pangaia]

14. ABAWDs (able-bodied adults without dependents)

Sure sounds a lot like Stalin to me.

[workinclasszero]

16. Overall 2016 Georgia Presidential Election Results

(R) D. Trump 51.3% 2,068,623

(D) H. Clinton 45.6% 1,837,300

(L) G. Johnson 3.1% 123,641

Dec 13, 2016

MAGA baby! Are you tired of winning yet Georgia GOP voters?

[adVance democracy]

20. Merry Fucking Christmas

[The Liberal Lion]

21. Let the revolution begin!

[Cold War Spook]

29. Posted this at another place but since Christmas has been brought up,

remember the poor, the homeless, the disabled veterans and the imprisoned.

[TexasBushwhacker]

30. If they are removing 8K per month

I wonder if some people were getting SNAP that weren't supposed to in the first place. Per the article, only 8% are single, w/out dependents. The income limits for those folks are REALLY low, job or no job.

[Sneederbunk]

31. How many children are impacted?

[MichMan]

33. Since it only applies to Able Bodied Adults without children...

… I would hazard a guess that it would be none

[LanternWaste]

44. Quite the hazardous guess indeed, as you fail...

to allow for indirect consequence within the home.

[geretogo]

32. I think they are trying to starve the poor into robbing a store for food , then they can make more

money from their stock in privatized prisons . This follows the prosperity Gospel . Praise the Lord .

[Doreen]

38. I am on SSDI and we got a raise for next year.

I receive $15 a month on my food card. I am more than likely going to lose it because I will be getting a little more than twice the EBT amount. Every time we ever get a raise either our rent ( if on subsidized housing like me ) goes up, EBT goes down, or health insurance goes up. I know my rent will not this time as I asked my manager. I do not know about my health insurance, and I really do not know about my EBT but the DSHS employee I spoke to said it will be affected but how he did not know. This by the way is in Washington state. As always after the raise in January every thing will rise in price enough to make it pointless. They keep us in the same place no matter which state you are in.

I am permanently disabled in several ways but you can not tell by just looking at me and that frightens me because they may somehow decide that I am an able bodied adult. Even though this is about the food cards be it SNAP or EBT this could be a precursor to what may come for monthly payments, rent, healthcare, and such. Can you imagine being expected to work to get any of those when you are not capable.

My heart goes to those in Georgia. This is only the beginning if this administration has its way.

[haele]

41. While it's criminal what is happening to those on SSDI IRT SNAP, housing and food assistance -

It rather seems as if they're going after the under the table income "workforce" that supplement their occasional income with assistance claims that don't also have some legitimate form of tax trail, either via a W-2, 1099, or some other form.

This particular twist of the knife into government support programs will hit the "family business" and non-custodial child support cheats that also claim support harder than SSDI recipients.

This being said, the fact that any single person needing assistance to make ends meet is given a monthly food voucher for any amount under $240 - under an average $6.00 a day - no matter where they live is basically criminal.

I don't care what their income is, even if their income is up to a penny of the cut-off for government assistance, there should be a minimum available that could provide them with at least one subsidized semi-healthy meal a day, working or not.

And that cut-off should be based on the local cost of living + reasonable expenses to get to and from a living wage job, not some political agenda.

I don't care about punishing people for needing assistance. I'd rather have assistance that allows people to get ahead if they're capable of doing so, or survive at a reasonable level of dignity if they aren't capable of getting ahead.

Haele

[EllieBC]

42. Definitely the cut off should reflect the locale.

The cutoff in San Francisco would be and should be way higher than say, Lawrence, KS.

This is a huge problem here in BC. Social assistance programs have very low cutoffs. In many places in the lower mainland, making $50k a year won’t even be enough to afford a 1 bedroom apartment and all living expenses. Yet the cutoffs are much lower.