HARRISBURG, Jan. 24, 2012 — State Sen. Shirley Kitchen and fellow Senate Democratic Caucus members today strongly denounced the Corbett administration’s plan to establish asset tests to determine eligibility for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients.
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The Democrats made their comments at a morning news conference at the state Capitol.
Under the administration’s plan, any SNAP recipient under the age of 60 who has more than $2,000 in savings and assets, including cash, stocks, bonds and money in checking and savings accounts, would no longer qualify. Individuals who are over 60 or disabled who have $3,250 in savings and assets would no longer qualify.
Approximately 1.8 million Pennsylvanians rely on SNAP.
“It is appalling that the administration wants to punish those who are right at the edge of subsistence and who are trying to save a few dollars to combat future hardships,” said Kitchen (D-Phila.), who serves as the Democratic chair of the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee. “We should be encouraging low-income individuals to work their way out of poverty. Instead, the administration wants to push them back down and keep them in a perpetual cycle of poverty.”
This proposal bucks a national trend in SNAP eligibility. Today, 35 states have abolished their asset tests because of pervasive long-term unemployment. Pennsylvania at one time had asset tests but dissolved them in 2008.
In addition, Pennsylvania has a solid record on accountability, with a SNAP error rate of less than 4 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
“The decision to implement an asset test makes little sense,” said Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa (D-Allegheny). “It will not save Pennsylvania taxpayers money. In fact, it will cost the state to implement and administer these tests. Many states have done away with these tests because they unfairly punish those who try to do the right thing and do very little to eliminate waste and fraud.”
Nationally, nearly 75 percent of SNAP participants are in families with children and more than a quarter of participants are in households with seniors or people with disabilities, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Nearly one-third of recipients work, according to the USDA.
“The administration’s crackdown on food stamp recipients is part of a pattern of attacks on working families who are struggling to make ends meet,” said Sen. Tina Tartaglione (D-Phila.). “The past year has been marked with an unsupportable mistrust of the working poor and an equally unsupportable blind trust of wealthy corporations. There is simply no reason to believe that Pennsylvania families are getting wealthy while collecting food stamps.”
State Sen. Anthony H. Williams has introduced legislation (Senate Bill 1387) that would prohibit the implementation of regulations that would place asset limits on SNAP recipients.
“With so many Pennsylvanians suffering from long-term unemployment, this proposal to implement an asset test is cruel and further burdens people who are trying to get back on their feet,” said Williams (D-Phila./Delaware). “The administration’s claim that there is rampant welfare fraud is simply untrue and their plans will only punish Pennsylvanians who need our help the most.”
“The governor’s actions are nothing more than a campaign of meanness meant to break the spirit of Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable citizens,” said Sen. Mike Stack (D-Phila.). “First, the governor ends the adultBasic health coverage plan. Then he aligns with the natural gas drilling industry to ensure that they can extract from the Marcellus shale without paying any taxes. Then he guts the public education system and purges Medical Assistance recipients. Now even more people will suffer if an asset test is put in place on SNAP recipients. His outrageous agenda burdens far too many Pennsylvanians.”
“Too many people are out of work and too many families are struggling to survive to have the state take away the assistance they need to feed their children,” Kitchen said. “This is nothing more than a strategic effort to cut off the state’s most vulnerable citizens and it has nothing to do with ‘rooting out fraud and waste.’”
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