15,000 People Off Food Stamps
SJNN – In just three months, 15,000 people in Wisconsin have already lost food stamps because the state is enforcing full work requirements for the program in Milwaukee.
Walker’s administration made the policy change in April. Since then, anyone deemed to be an able-bodied adult with no dependents to care for must prove they are working or participating in job training programs for at least 20 hours per week. Failing to meet that standard means losing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits after three months.
The 15,000 bumped from the rolls from May to July is only half the number the state predicts will ultimately lose food stamps because of the move.
Participation in a job training program can stand in for payroll employment to fulfill the requirement.
Sherrie Tussler heads the Hunger Task Force, a Milwaukee group that distributes food donations to food banks and shelters. Walker’s move “will bankrupt our food banks” as impoverished people lose access to a modest food stipend, Tussler told the Wisconsin State Journal.
In Wisconsin, unemployed food stamps recipients who don’t have a disability or a dependent are automatically enrolled in the state’s SNAP Employment and Training program. But getting SNAP E&T programs right is hard and expensive, and true success at launching people toward self-sufficiency is rare.
In Milwaukee County, only one in every 14 childless able-bodied adults who’s enrolled in the state training system has actually found a job through it. The impact of Walker’s move there “will result in wide scale shortages in Milwaukee [food banks],” Tussler wrote to the governor in October.
