Carefully read the proposed rule cited above in the Federal Register, and then carefully read Mr. Berry’s comment.
https://leadership.saportareport.com/povertyandequity/
There is little doubt but that Mr. Berry and I read an entirely different document, for he hastens to paltering in the second sentence of his comment: “… to increase SNAP work requirements which severely limit the flexibility of States to adapt to the needs of low-income and working families.” Again, the text of the proposed rule specifically attaches itself to “able-bodied Adults without dependents:
The rule proposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) focuses on work-related program requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs). The rule would apply to non-disabled people, between the ages of 18 and 49, with no dependents. The rule would not apply to the elderly, the disabled or pregnant women.
While it has been over Fifty years since my study of Sociology as a minor to a major of Psychology, I cannot believe that a single able-bodied Adult, without dependents, is by any definition, a “Family.” No spouse, no children, no one who relies on the Adult for sustenance, support, direct provision of food, clothing or shelter. Moreover, the proposed USDA regulations continue to allow such ABAWDs the opportunity to seek job oriented training and placement, Employment Programs.
Employment programs as described below, with the sole intent of the new regulations to more closely monitor the application of Waivers to extend, to eligible recipients, those conditions which meet the needs of the subject population.
“Under current SNAP requirements, ABAWDs must work or participate in an employment program for at least 20 hours a week to continue to receive benefits for more than three months over a 36-month period. States may request to waive the time limit in areas with an unemployment rate above 10 percent or where there are ‘not sufficient jobs,’ which current regulations primarily define as an unemployment rate 20 percent above the national average. With today’s strong economy, that could include areas with unemployment rates of under 5 percent – a rate normally considered to be full employment. In 2016 there were 3.8 million individual ABAWDs on the SNAP rolls, with 2.8 million (or almost 74 percent) of them not working.”
Mr. Berry’s equivocation further abuses the statistic he cites, as he presents suppositions as facts. Had he stated that potentially or possibly 755,000 individuals (better and more correctly stated as 755,000 ABAWDs) could lose benefits, he would have admitted the possibility that 0 individuals might lose benefits. In point of fact, as with all statistical ranges, the number who actually will lose benefits will be between 0 and 755,000, likely more than none and less than 755,000, and actually, statistically the distribution will be normalized.
It is obvious that the disparity of outcomes reflects Mr. Berry’s sentimentality and the Secretary’s pragmatism, but only Mr. Berry resorts to hyperbole. In fact neither will have a significant result if the effectuation of current SNAP policy continues, factually and functionally ignoring the nutritional value of eligible store sourced food items and caring not at all as to the competency and skills of those who prepare meals for SNAP recipients, especially children, working adults and the elderly.
I have personally shopped with and observed the purchase of eligible food items with dozens of SNAP recipients, and observed and participated in the preparation of meals with multiple adult SNAP recipients. The choice and selection of prepared food products is abominable, the choice and preparation of healthy fresh food items is non-existent and the skill and education of a majority of observed preparers is minimal. Many of the single mothers I have observed did not know “how to boil water,” did not read or seem concerned about nutritional labeling, protein or calorie counts or even sanitary food preparation. One fact was brutally apparent, without a microwave, most food items would never have been heated, let alone “cooked.” Repeatedly SNAP recipients, both women and men, purchased “frozen foods to throw in the microwave.” soft drinks, sweets and snack size juices to feed their children. I am willing to wager there is not a Snap eligible child in North Georgia who has not eaten dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets swallowed with a Mtn. Dew.
I commend Mr. Berry for his involvement in the SVdP, and his concern over the effects of the proposed SNAP rule changes. And I feel that food pantries such as SVdP and other well-meaning NGO eleemosynary groups have achieved a reduction in hunger among SNAP and other disadvantaged recipients; the proof is the rotund bellied obese children who are seen every day attending public schools. In truth, SNAP grew out of the USDA excess Commodities programs, which provided more nutritious food stocks to a population that still was exposed to Home Eco, Cooking, Household Management and Tasks, Finance and Banking and yes, even Shop!
A final comment, purely anecdotal. The average young male who I met, and who was in fact an ABAWD, was not at all interested in anything but leisure and entertainment. All had phones, care of the Federal Government, all have transportation of one form or another, all did recreational drugs, such as ETOH, pot, and occasional hard drugs. Many were products of broken homes, many were fathers, some of multiple children, many were depressed and at times despaired of life.
Thankfully, these men, these women and their children are not in the majority, not the primary demographic of citizens in North Georgia. What they are is ignored, damaged and marginalized. But don’t believe what I write , read the best contemporary portrayal of the denizens of SNAP and other Federal “Relief” and “Assistance” programs :
“Let Us Now Praise Famous Men,” Agee and Evans… The costumes change, the settings, the cars but the conditions of life remain the same. Mr. Barry must surely agree, after all The Saint Vincent dePaul Society in America was 96 years old when Agee and Evan’s book was published, in 1941! Same old rhetoric, same old “charity,” palliative, never curative. Always willing to stretch the truth for another “dime” to handout.
“Hey Buddy, can you spare a dime? Bless you, my son, of course we can!”