HOUSTON — More than 3 million Americans would lose their food stamp benefits under new rules proposed by the Trump administration.
Some anti-hunger advocates worry it could hurt poorer Americans, including those in Texas.
About 36 million people participate in SNAP nationwide. State records from June 2019 show more than 3.4 million Texans eligible and more than 1.4 million cases.
“It definitely would hit Texas,” said Brian Greene, President/CEO of the Houston Food Bank.
Under current law, most states automatically make people eligible for food stamps if they meet requirements under another federal program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or "TANF."
However, under the proposal, income and assets would be reviewed to qualify for the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or "SNAP."
Greene said it’s hard to predict the proposal’s exact impact until more details are released, but he worries because of the simplified eligibility process in Texas.
“If those proportions are correct, then this would be pretty bad consequences for Texans, especially elderly,” he said. “Making them go through two processes is going to lose people from the rolls.”
Greene said the Houston Food Bank and its partners feed more than 800,000 people every year across 18 counties every year, including an increasing number of working families. Still, he said about 60,000 people per day go hungry.
The 2019 Houston Area Survey released in May by Rice University’s Kinder Institute found one out of every three people in the region had a hard time paying for groceries or covering the cost of housing during the past year.
“It’s also very important to recognize that we the charitable system are not the main part of the safety net,” Greene said. “SNAP is much larger than everything all of the food banks and all of our partners do put together.”
Greene said despite their best efforts, those groups don’t have the resources to make up the difference.
“We’ll do what we can, and it’s going to be heartbreaking to see this happen to people, but the main people hurt is not the organizations trying to help them, but the people who are no longer gonna receive this benefit,” he said.
The USDA estimates cutting the program would save taxpayers about $2.5 billion per year.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said in a statement Tuesday, “For far too long, this loophole has been used to effectively bypass important eligibility guidelines.”
President Donald Trump tweeted earlier in July food stamp use is at a 10-year low.
The Trump administration has previously tried to cut back on SNAP. Congress rejected a similar change to the automatic eligibility provisions during the farm bill debate in 2018.
The proposed change is open to public comment for 60 days.
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