Sergio Bocardo-Aguilar was hungry. A first-year student at the University of California at Davis, he worked at a restaurant but still couldn’t afford food. After his shifts, he would ask his friends for snacks or leftovers. Some nights he went right to sleep instead of having dinner.
Bocardo-Aguilar wondered if public assistance programs could help him. But he didn’t qualify for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP or food stamps. He worked two fewer hours per week than the program required — 18 instead of 20.
Because it’s hard to put in that much time on top of a full course load, “the work-hour requirement is really annoying, especially for a lot of students, like me,” he said.
That work rule was loosened for students during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic but has now been reimposed; at least one member of Congress says nearly a million students are at risk of losing SNAP benefits as a result.
The new SNAP work requirements, explained
Meanwhile, under the deal to avert a default on the national debt, more work requirements are being added to SNAP and other benefits programs. This will reduce the cost of SNAP by an estimated $6.5 billion over the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office (though it says new exceptions will more than cancel out those savings); tightening work rules in another program used by low-income college students, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF,...
Irvine, CA (PinionNewswire) — Powerful congressional candidate–and complex litigation attorney–Eric J. Troutman is raising concerns about an organization seemingly tricking consumers and voters int...