|
John,
The date for a possible default is less than a week away and there still isn’t a deal reached on raising the debt ceiling. But reports are providing a better picture of what might be in the final deal—and it’s not good for human needs programs.
We’re hearing that harsh restrictions to SNAP and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) are still on the table—which would hurt millions of those most in need.
There are also reports of increasing funding to military and some veterans programs so that they’re in line with President Biden’s FY 2024 budget, and cuts to nondefense spending—food for older people, mothers and children, housing and heat, education, child care and so much more—perhaps by 9%.
President Biden has publicly stated that he would reject any legislation that plunges people deeper into poverty or restricts their access to health care. He has made it explicitly clear that red tape restrictions the right-wing calls “work requirements” are off the table for Medicaid; now we need to ensure that these barriers to aid are off the table for SNAP and TANF, too.
Click here to send a direct message to Congress to reject onerous restrictions to SNAP, TANF, and Medicaid, as well as caps and cuts that will deny critical assistance to millions of families and children.
Under the House bill that passed along party lines, 1 million children would lose income support from TANF and half of them would be pushed further into deep poverty—and due to the legacy of systemic racism, 65% of these children being pushed deeper into poverty are Black and Latino. Taking away income assistance for not meeting a work requirement can have devastating effects on a family—including increasing their contact with the child welfare system. Symptoms of poverty—such as lack of food, reliable housing, utilities, and clean clothing—can form the basis of a child welfare investigation and lead to children being removed from their homes.[1]
Work requirements for cash or nutritional assistance do not work and never have. Ever since TANF became law in the mid 1990s, over 2 million families have lost all of their direct financial support as a result of burdensome work rules. In some states, the red tape rules resulted in one-third of those terminated losing benefits from errors. Some had disabilities that were ignored.[2] The House-passed bill would make the rules more stringent. The bill would also expand the already harsh time limits and work reporting requirements in SNAP to include people aged 50 through 55—putting nutritional assistance of nearly 1 million people at risk.
Most of the people who receive assistance from SNAP, TANF, and other government programs already face systemic barriers to good-paying jobs. But most of them are working—just not steadily enough to satisfy the rules at all times. Or worse, like the experience in TANF, they are eligible for aid but are denied by errors and bureaucratic foul-ups. Adding more stringent work requirements only serves to remove critical aid from people who need it most. They do nothing to address employment or reduce hardship.
Take action today. Write to your senators and representative and demand that they reject rigid work rules and time limits in SNAP, TANF as well as Medicaid, and to reject harsh cuts and caps as well.
We cannot cut our way to prosperity. President Biden and Congress must show up for vulnerable people and communities and reject any and all compromises that include cutting funds to meet critical human needs.
Thank you for all you do,
Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs
[1] TANF Provisions in House Republican Bill Could Increase Families’ Risk of Child Welfare Involvement
[2] TANF Studies Show Work Requirement Proposals for Other Programs Would Harm Millions, Do Little to Increase Work
|
