It looks like those food stamps won’t be available to deadbeats much longer thanks to a time restriction being re-implemented. Projections indicate up to 1 million people could lose their benefits this year.
According to recent reports, between 500,000 and 1 million of SNAP (Food Stamp Program) recipients will lose benefits over the course of 2016 due to the return of a three-month limit for unemployed adults aged 18 to 49 who aren’t disabled or raising minor children.
The impact will affect recipients in the 23 state that are required or electing to re-impose the time limit in 2016. This provision limits individuals to three months of SNAP benefits in any 36-month period when they aren’t employed or in a work training program for a minimum of 20 hours a week.
Work requirements in public assistance programs typically require people to look for work and accept any job or employment program slot that is offered. The difference in this program is that it operates on a time limit rather than opportunity, so more people are set to be cut off than other programs.
This year, the time limit will be in effect in more than 40 states—marking the first time the time limit has been in effect since before the recession in 23 states.
In most of these states, the change was put in place in January. For others, it will come in spring months.
What do you think of the decision to re-impose these time restrictions?
