Changes to SNAP Food Stamp Program in November Will Close Loopholes, Cut Waste: Analyst

Millions of Americans could see changes to their food stamp benefits this November. The new One Big Beautiful Bill Act updates work requirements, eligibility rules, and funding levels for SNAP. That's the federal supplemental nutrition assistance program. We speak with Robert Recctor of the Heritage Foundation about what these changes mean for families and states. Robert, thanks so much for coming on. Um the new One Big Beautiful Bill Act, it updates work requirements for SNAP recipients. How will this affect working age adults? >> Well, it will have a minimal effect. First thing we have to understand is the United States has a massive welfare system with over 90 programs spending $1.7 trillion a year. That doesn't include social security and Medicare and provides cash, food, housing, free medical care. This is one tiny change to to the food stamp program. The main emphasis of this is that people that are getting food stamps who are adults, who are able-bodied and work capable and don't have any dependent children will be required to be employed or if they don't have a job to do some sort of minimal activity to prepare for a job. Um that will in fact probably significantly reduce the roles. Uh because when you put that type of work requirement on, most people just drop off the roles because they already have a job that they haven't told you about or something like that. >> Explain that last part to us. Uh Robert, what do you mean? >> Well, if you if you have a job, you're and an employment um that will significantly reduce the amount of food stamps you can get. So one typical thing to do in most welfare programs is to simply work off the books or not tell the welfare offices you have a job. So if you have an individual like that and you require them to say come into the office one or two days a week to do some activity in the office they can't do that there they can't be two places at once. So all those people with hidden jobs which is a significant number of people they just drop off the roles. It's a historic thing that you find in any type of welfare reform. It happened in the 1990s with welfare reform under Bill Clinton. One thing we want to emphasize is that this provision is not to just say, uh, well, you don't have a job, so we're going to throw you in the street. It's saying, look, I if you don't have a job, we will support you. We will feed you, but we expect you to do something to begin to support yourself and to try to find a job. Uh it's a very modest proposal, but it will have significant effects in the sense that it it will it it serves as a kind of gatekeeping device to make sure that the people who are getting aid truly need the aid and are doing something to try to make their own lives better and to increase self-s support for themselves. >> So you're saying, Robert, that previously people they had jobs, they told uh the the the government that they did not in order to get more subsidies, SNAP subsidies. So are you saying that now perhaps they will just admit they have a job but their subsidies will be lower they just when you ask them to come in to do something they're not going to show up because it interferes with their job. They can't be two places at once. This is a universal feature of or problem with welfare in every single nation that people hide their income in order to to get uh more benefits. And what a work requirement weeds that out because it says look if if you say you don't have a job, we'd like to you to come down to the office here on Tuesday and do some activity with us. Maybe we'll work on your resume or something like that. And if they have a job, they won't do that. So the net effect when we put this type of work and the only people that are being affected by this are able-bodied adults who don't have kids. Okay? They're not disabled. They're not elderly. They don't have children to take care of for the most part. They're they're just single adults usually are who are living with other people that that have income in the household. And they're they're not working. Uh there are about four four million of them on the roles right now. And you don't want to just kick them in the street. If they kn need assistance, you want to give it to them, but you want to make sure that they're not just taking a free handout if you have one. Uh so what you do is you say, "Look, if you don't have a job right now, we'd like you to come down to the office for maybe one day a week. Uh we'll work with you, do some job preparations, or we'll we'll watch you search for a job under supervision. We're going to basically say you can't just sit on your couch at home and collect these food stamp benefits." And what you do when you do that, what you find is the overwhelming number of people in this group that you put that type of requirement on, they simply drop off the roles immediately because they have other ways of supporting themselves because they they have a hidden job or or because they're just they just don't need the benefits as much as you might think. >> If if the one if a few of them do come in and say, "I can't find a job, but I really need these food stamps." then you really want to help those people. You want to help them get a job. You get to focus your energies on the people who really need assistance rather than just giving free food to those people who are willing to take a handout if you have it for them. >> Uh Robert, you said this will apply to about 4 million people if I'm not mistaken. Any idea uh how much this will save the government? it this there are significant savings in this but in the overall size of the welfare system it's this is a very very small change and the problem is this change was actually this rule was actually put in to food stamps way back in 1996 with Bill Clinton's welfare reform but there are loopholes in it so that particularly blue states have never enforced this rule the rule has kind of been on the books almost for 30 plus years now, but it's never been enforced because of the loopholes. This bill will tighten up some of those loopholes so that it you do have to enforce this this requirement, which again is not new. It's been around since the '9s. It's just never been enforced. Now, we're going to say we're we're actually going to get rid of those loopholes so that states have to enforce this. And what you will do is you you will promote people who are simply sitting around doing nothing to they they you will help them get a job. You will encourage them to get a job and you will save a significant amount of money for the taxpayers. >> Robert Recctor, thank you so much. >> Thank you.