The debt ceiling agreement brokered by members of Congress in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 jeopardizes food assistance by expanding Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) work requirements to “able-bodied adults without dependents” (ABAWDs) aged 50 to 54. SNAP provides vital food assistance to households with low incomes who are struggling to put food on the table. Until now, SNAP work reporting requirements only applied to ABAWDs under 50 years old.
If people subject to the work reporting requirements are unable to comply, they will lose their SNAP as a sanction and have their benefits limited to three months every three years.
Most SNAP participants who can work, do. The new expansion, which punishes older Floridians for being out of work, will create hardship for participants who have limited employment opportunities, and it will cost the state’s economy millions in assistance that would have otherwise been spent in local communities.
ABAWDs — adults who are not pregnant and do not have children or mental or physical health limitations that interfere with work — are more likely to live in poverty, be unhoused, and have less education than other SNAP participants. In addition, although many are ready to work, ABAWDs have higher rates of mental and physical impairments than other SNAP participants. In addition, ABAWDs of color face workforce discrimination and higher unemployment rates than Florida’s...
Foley partner Lisa Noller, Chair of the Firm’s Litigation Department, will be speaking at the American Bar Association’s Qui Tam & Civil False Claims and Healthcare Fraud Institute in Washingt...