Great newspaper column about PA. "shredding the safety net" with food stamp cuts

[JPZenger]

Allentown Morning Call columnist Bill White has a great column today attacking the Corbett administration's intent to cut off all food stamps to households that have more than $2,000 of assets. It will take effect in May. The maximum is $3,250 for persons over age 60. Some assets would not count towards the maximum, such as a house, retirement accounts, one car and low value second cars.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/white/mc-bw-corbett-food-stamps-20120130,0,3621830.column

Excerpts:

"Essentially, what this change says is that even if your income is minimal, you need to wipe out most of your meager savings before we'll give you SNAP access. Elderly couple putting something aside for funeral expenses? Forget about it. Young couple beginning to set a little aside for a future home or a car that works? Sorry.

Welfare department spokeswoman Anne Bale ...said the department is moving ahead with the plan and that it isn't swayed by the fact that Pennsylvania wouldn't save any money.

So let's review. We as a state propose to discourage lower-income individuals from saving. At the same time, we will make it more difficult for them to afford nutritious food, and we will deny Pennsylvania stores and farms the benefits of increased sales. Oh, and we'll do our safety-net shredding in the midst of a crippling recession that has driven demands on emergency food providers through the roof.

In return, we'll … solve a non-problem while receiving no fiscal benefit?"

[MadrasT]

1. Thanks for posting this.

The idiocy of this whole thing makes my head want to explode.

[rfranklin]

2. The right wing wants to punish the poor for existing...

They view the poor as purposely and maliciously making them look selfish.

[durablend]

3. Well really, they have no use for the poor or middle class anymore

Not as if anyone actually makes anything in this country anymore so why bother supporting them is their mantra.

[kestrel91316]

7. They have sucked the middle class and poor completely dry,

and now are discarding their shriveled husks. Why would they want to help them?

[DebJ]

4. So does this mean one would have to start selling

personal possessions, like TVs, computers, furniture, etc?
What if you can't sell them, cause no one will buy them?
Do you have to borrow against a 401K (and can you do that if you are without income)?

[DebJ]

5. Called my state rep. Liquid assets only.

[JPZenger]

6. You have to hit rock bottom before you can eat

As I understand it, money saved for college, funeral expenses, rent, health insurance, medical bills, mortgage payments, real estate taxes and many other things would count towards the $2,000 limit. A person with a small old cheap rowhouse could easily pay $2,000 a year in real estate taxes.

there may be a need for some limit on assets, but $2,000 is ridiculously low.

Also, remember that the feds pay for 100% of actual food stamp benefits. The state pays much of the administrative costs. So the Corbettites propose to increase the administrative costs of the states and counties in order to decrease the amount of federal aid received by needy PA. families.

[kestrel91316]

8. In CA I don't think you can even have that much in the bank to get

food stamps or sign up to use food banks.

[JPZenger]

9. Most states don't have an asset limit, and those that do have a higher limit

From what I have read, the states with some of the stricter policies include Utah and Michigan. Most states have eliminated asset tests, and those that have an asset test typically use a number much higher than $2,000. That $2,000 limit was authorized in Federal law 30 years ago, and was never updated. The Secretary of Agriculture says he has no authority to turn down PA.'s $2,000 asset test.

[JPZenger]

10. Letter from Meals on Wheels to Corbett

Here's excerpts from a letter to Corbett from two officials of Lehigh County Meals on Wheels, as posted on Bill White's blog on www.mcall.com

"We respectfully urge you to suspend efforts to implement an asset test for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This proposed change will hurt some of the most vulnerable people in our state—homebound seniors.

Fifty of our clients use SNAP benefits to pay for their meals (fees are based on a sliding scale). Because of SNAP, these clients are able to receive 26,100 meals providing 2/3 of their RDAs over the course of the year. If they lost these benefits, how would they eat?

Most of our clients have very little or no savings; a handful have a little bit of savings which is above the $3250 asset test that your administration plans to implement. We spoke to four of these clients’ families and they all told us that losing SNAP benefits would mean that their family members would not be able to pay for their meals. The people we serve who would lose their SNAP benefits if this asset test is implemented have extremely low incomes. These seniors are in their 80’s and 90’s. They cannot work. They will never be able to replace the little bit of savings they have. None of them have more than $10,000 in savings for a medical or home emergency and their burial..."