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12/5/2008
Should able-bodied adults work for Food Stamps?
“More Wisconsin residents are getting federal assistance to buy groceries.” That’s the lead in yesterday’s (12/4/08) WPR news clip. Here’s the rest (emphases are mine):
In October, roughly 201,000 households in the state were enrolled in the FoodShare program. That's up from 168,000 at the same time last year -- or a 20-percent increase.
Rea Holmes is with the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services. She says the bleak economy may be a reason for the spike, but it's not the only one.
"There used to be a mandatory requirement that people had to participate in a job training requirement,” explains Holmes. “We no longer require that, so people can receive the benefits without doing this. We also have really modernized the program, so you can apply for food share benefits online, which makes it a lot easier for people to access.”
Milwaukee County has the highest share of recipients in the state, at 34-percent of the total number. The average amount of FoodShare aid is $217 a month. I wrote about this in September, 2007, when the Senate and Assembly were still wrestling each other to come up with a final 2007-09 budget.
The Senate/Governor’s/JFC budget eliminates the requirement that Able Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWDs) work for food stamps…..
Currently, most ABAWDs applying for food stamps (but not all, by any means) are required to work or participate in a training program (FoodShare employment and training - FSET)….
The Governor claims this change will save money because compliance costs will no longer be necessary ….
… here’s the primary argument for making work-for-food stamps voluntary: More people will seek/get/use food stamps, so Wisconsin can get more federal money for said food stamps. $5.5 million worth. So reality strikes. It’s no thanks to the Governor’s office that we know about it. Interesting that a specific reporting requirement was deleted from the final budget (p. 649) by Gov. Doyle.
(7k) REPORT ON FOOD STAMP EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING PROGRAM PARTICIPATION. The department of health and family services shall submit to the joint committee on finance, no later than January 1, 2009, a report that compares participation in the food stamp employment and training program after participation becomes voluntary with participation in the program before participation became voluntary. So no more work for food stamps. And the state gets more federal money. In whose book is that a win-win?
Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
Yea, there's absolutely no reason why we shouldn't require welfare/food stamp recipients to work at least 20 hours per week in city or nonprofit positions, unless they can prove that they are on interviews and job hunting. Sometimes they will gain experience that will help them get a real job.
Jack Lohman (Fri Dec 05 08:16:19 2008)
Does this count the WIC program, too? The sad thing is that at least for WIC, the "foods" one can obtain are often highly-processed junk like Life cereal, etc. So WIC is more about subsidizing processed food companies, than about really healthy food. (Though I suppose they imagine that cold cereal is healthy.)
Food stamps don't even have the caveat of what types of food someone could buy; therefore, someone could fill up on chips, candy and soda. My sister-in-law saw someone buying beef to feed their dog (the person said it was for the dog), and the rest was junk food for the people.
We can't afford to feed a non-productive animal like a dog; why should people on food stamps have enough to feed a dog--and meat at that!
emily matthews (Fri Dec 05 08:18:58 2008)
Should a Food Share recipient work 20 hours per /week/ to collect $60 per /week/ for his family?
Who pays for child care when mommy and daddy have to go to 20 hours of useless job training? Oh, wait, more government spending.
Brian Heyer (Fri Dec 05 08:44:18 2008)
Emily brings up a good point.
I have a good friend that works for a local county human service department and she has told me all sorts of horror stories. Given that all of the Food Share benefits are distributed via EFT cards and nearly all transactions are handled electronically, there's nothing wrong with requiring vendors that receive a substantial dollar amount of Food Share to report back to the state what was sold.
Since WIC vouchers are so carefully watched and itemized, the same should be done with Food Shares, except electronically. EACH receipt that includes a food share purchase shows the Food Share balance remaining, so a vendor's database would easily be filtered for Food Share purchases and the anonymized data sent to the state.
I know WalMart has publicly disclosed that they keep itemized data for each receipt for years. (Terabytes of data.) If the state spent $50k gathering UPC codes for purchases, the taxpayer would be horrified. In today's Wiki world, the state should open up such a database and let the blogosphere pour over it.
Brian Heyer (Fri Dec 05 09:36:42 2008)
There are more hot buttons in today's comment than at the end of a James Bond movie: the world is sure to end if those food stamp recipients don't (as Brian Heyer said) take several useless
hours of job training. Or wander the streets filling job applications.
One of the best essays I ever read was by Theodore Sturgeon. The subject of the essay was "Ask The Next Question." Sturgeon's wisdom was that hardly anyone ever asks the next question
after the simplified answer (usually starting with the word "basically" or "essentially") is given.
The comment today says that the search for work used to be in place but was dropped. Why? Well it might be because there are no jobs to seek or find either. And yet it is
government's responsibility to provide for "the general welfare." The general welfare referred to is everyone-- all the citizens.
I'd like to a see a sample from the whole state and then how that relates to other states when talking about percentages of recipients for food stamps.
It is easy to point to this specious "problem" with a very limited focus. It is more difficult to address the larger issue.
Lon Ponschock (Fri Dec 05 10:50:36 2008)
Your article and the posters raise valid issues but some readers might have an inaccurate image of the average food stamp recipient. Most are currently working at very low wage levels. Others have children under 6 years of age, or are caring for a disabled dependent. Probably less than 7% are able-bodied adults without young children, and most of those participate in the work search program voluntarily. I do not doubt that a few take advantage of the system but they are the exception. This does not negate the points made here but it may give a better perspective. I for one will pray for fairer wages and a better economy.
Mark L. Harris (Fri Dec 05 14:26:03 2008)
Perhaps a look at the estimated $30K it immediately costs the state each time that there is a no-fault divorce granted to parents with children. Obviously there are personal safety and other priority women's issues related to the no-fault divorce. But when there are minor children involved, there needs to be critical re-thinking of the process, that will most likely cause additional financial burdens to fall to the state.
D Freix (Tue Dec 23 10:50:21 2008)
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