32 states and the District of Columbia are scrambling to address a Trump admin. policy change that will keep nearly 700,000 of their poorest residents from accessing food stamps.
Reporting by @PhilMcCausland: nbcnews.to/2NlUIhZ (1/6)
Reporting by @PhilMcCausland: nbcnews.to/2NlUIhZ (1/6)
Sec. Perdue announced in Dec. the Trump admin. would limit states from waiving work requirements in areas of high unemployment for people 18-49 who are childless and not disabled.
The change will create a tremendous amount of work for state agencies over a short timeline. (2/6)
The change will create a tremendous amount of work for state agencies over a short timeline. (2/6)
Teresa Miller, secretary of Penn.’s Dept. of Human Services, says her team is in constant meetings with food stamp recipients, food banks, hunger advocates and others to brainstorm ways to use existing resources to mitigate the impact on nearly 100,000 of their residents. (3/6)
"We want to have a strategy fully in place ... We are on very tight timelines, and, with no investment from the federal government, we need to do right by the taxpayer and make sure we’re setting people up for success,” Miller says. (4/6)
This is the first of 3 rules that will negatively impact enrollment or benefits in the food stamps program.
The remaining 2 rules would cap deductions for utility allowances and keep states from automatically enrolling families when they receive other forms of federal aid. (5/6)
The remaining 2 rules would cap deductions for utility allowances and keep states from automatically enrolling families when they receive other forms of federal aid. (5/6)
“This represents the most significant anti-hunger program this country has. It helps people get out of poverty, and it makes no sense to undermine that. It seems cruel and inhumane to take away people’s access to food,” Miller says from Pennsylvania. (6/6) #NBCNewsThreads
