| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
| all across the country and we're a nonprofit organization funded by grants from philanthropy and other organizations. | ||
| I want to start with the latest news which was the rulings by several judges, a couple of judges asking the Trump administration to pay out SNAP benefits for the month of November out of contingency funds and possibly other funding. | ||
| Can you tell us a little bit about that? | ||
| What prompted that and how that would work? | ||
| Yes. | ||
| So to start off, we didn't need to get there, right? | ||
| FRAC and other organizations have been telling the administration even before the shutdown happened about asking about what their plan is. | ||
| USDA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has contingency funds, what is at issue here, and reserves that they can utilize in order to be able to pay benefits. | ||
| Benefits today should have gone on time if the Secretary and the administration had acted accordingly. | ||
| Last Friday, USDA sent out a memo that violated the Hatch Act because it was incredibly political, but it also said that the contingency funds that advocates like ours had been saying for weeks to be utilized for SNAP so that benefits could go out on time were only in case of an emergency and that department lacked the authority, | ||
| which is something we know is not true because they have utilized those funds to already pay some administrative expenses and had utilized the reserves to pay for other priorities of the administration. | ||
| So, Gina, are you saying that they have used that during this shutdown? | ||
| They have used some of those contingency funds? | ||
| Yes, they have utilized some of the contingency funds to pay the administrative cost expenses for the states. | ||
| So the federal government pays 50%, the state pays 50%, but they did utilize, it's our understanding, that they did utilize some of the contingency funds to pay administrative state share expenses. | ||
| So what are they saying that that contingency fund is used for or should be used for? | ||
| In the memo specifically that they cited last Friday, it said, that this two Fridays ago, specifically said that it was in terms of a disaster. | ||
| And so about a dozen attorney generals that said, we need answers. | ||
| What do you mean you can't utilize this? | ||
| No response from USDA. | ||
| So then they, on Tuesday, they file a lawsuit led by the Attorney General of Massachusetts, Andrea Campbell, asking that USDA utilize its authority that Congress had given them, that is in the Nutrition Act, which is what governs SNAP, and utilize those contingency funds in order to fund SNAP benefits. | ||
| And you're right, there were two lawsuits. | ||
| It was the one by the Attorney Generals, but there was another lawsuit also filed by national nonprofit organizations along with municipalities and other state nonprofits that also said, please utilize this contingency funding. | ||
| And you also terminated some waivers that states were depending on, ensure that those continue onto the end. | ||
| On Thursday, the hearing for the Massachusetts one, because it was filed in Massachusetts, was heard. | ||
| And the judge gave an inkling. | ||
| There was a lot of oral argument where the judge seemed to be asking questions as to why USDA didn't think it had utilized the authority, what it had done in the past, and said that it would issue an order on Friday, which she did. | ||
| And then the Rhode Island hearing also happened on Friday. | ||
| Both are similar and different in a way. | ||
| Both specifically have given USDA, it captures the whole of the nation, because even though the states asked for the injunction during all your argument, the judge seemed to say that this would apply as a whole. | ||
| And that's the way the SNAP program works. | ||
| You can't choose and pick over states. | ||
| It would apply as a whole. | ||
| And so the judge seemed to say USDA has until Monday, the administration has us to Monday to decide how they're going to utilize the contingency funds in order to fund SNAP. | ||
| And the Rhode Island one, the one that was heard in Rhode Island, actually goes a little bit further and says that USDA should also find a way to figure out if they can utilize the reserve funding so that they can fully fund SNAP. | ||
| Because currently we do know that the contingency funds are not sufficient to cover the full month of SNAP benefits. | ||
| So that's what I was going to ask you, Gina, because it's about $9 billion to cover the entire month and there's about $5 billion in reserves. | ||
| So how would that work? | ||
| Would it just be maybe a little bit more than two weeks? | ||
| What do you think is going to happen with that? | ||
| Well, we've been saying this that there is this fund called Section 32 that the Secretary of Agriculture has tapped in to fund WIC, right? | ||
| There is over $30 billion worth of reserves that the Secretary can easily tap into, has the authority to do so in order to offset so that full benefits will go in. | ||
| So there's two things that can happen. | ||
| We don't know how the administration is going to respond, but it takes a while, right? | ||
| Because it's not as simple as turning on a switch. | ||
| The states have to do these issuance files where they say this is how many people are eligible. | ||
| This is how much they're entitled to. | ||
| They send that to something called an EBT processor vendor. | ||
| There are two main ones in the U.S. that pretty much have half and half of the states. | ||
| Those EBT processors capture all of the cases and say to the Department of Agriculture, this is how much money we need in order for individuals when they swipe their card to have benefits in the card. | ||
| USDA takes those numbers and says, okay, here's your letter of credit. | ||
| Take it over and begin. | ||
| Then the EBT processors have it. | ||
| And so when that person walks into an eligible participating EBT retailer and they scan their card, that money is transferred. | ||
| So it's not as simple as that. | ||
| If USDA says, nope, we're only going to use contingency funding, then it's going to take another level of steps because then USDA will have to figure out how they're going to prorate, meaning how they're going to give less than the amount that people are entitled to, most likely 50%, and will have to do added calculations. | ||
| I will flag that this process may take a little bit longer because we do not know how many people have been terminated or furloughed from USDA because unlike other shutdowns, the Office of Management and Budget directed the agencies to terminate individuals instead of being furloughed. | ||
| So we don't know how much on the back end and how quickly the department can act, but we do know that we just don't know at the point like what USDA, how is going to respond at this moment. | ||
| Can we let's take a step back, Gina, and talk about the SNAP program and kind of who it covers. | ||
| We're going to put on the screen some information from the USDA about fiscal year 2025 benefits and how many people it covers at about 42.5 million people are covered by SNAP. | ||
| Can you give us an idea of the type of people who receive SNAP benefits and usually how long do people stay on it? | ||
| Sure. | ||
| The majority of SNAP users are children. | ||
| They make up the biggest bucket, followed by older adults and then followed with people with disabilities. | ||
| They are parents, they are children, they are veterans, they are unhoused individuals, they're a youth aging out of foster care. | ||
| The main reason that people are on this program is threefold. | ||
| Number one, I lost my job. | ||
| This economy has been tough. | ||
| When people lose their job and don't have a support system, they need to be able to keep paying their bills to be able to stay afloat. | ||
| The second reason is my wages have been reduced. | ||
| And the third reason is I have a family member to take care of. | ||
| I can't work full-time or there are things that are prohibiting me. | ||
| All of these things are interrelated to the economy. | ||
| When the economy is strong, people are not in SNAP because there are jobs. | ||
| Food doesn't cost as much. | ||
| Shelter doesn't cost as much. | ||
| And you can see that through various years that the program has been utilized. | ||
| When the economy is strong, we are not. | ||
| We're at a point that our economy is not doing that well. | ||
| We haven't recovered since the pandemic. | ||
| And so there's a higher unemployment rate. | ||
| There is, and when I say unemployment rate, majority of people on SNAP are working part-time. | ||
| And the latest labor statistics show that people were looking for a full-time job, but they could not find it. | ||
| Even though they're working, a lot of these individuals make less than $1,100 a month because they're part of the gig economy, meaning there is not enough funding for them to be able to supply for their families. | ||
| So in order to be able to pay shelter, which takes up to 70 to 80% of their income, leaving very little money for anything else, they rely on this program in order to feed their family. | ||
| Most people are in the program ranging either from six months to 24 months, depending on how dire the situation is. | ||
| But it's not a permanent program. | ||
| People are not in the program for their lifetime. | ||
| They're there because they have falling on hard times and they rely on this program so that they continue so that they continue with their well-being and can be able to move through and receive economic mobility. | ||
| And Gina, they do have to recertify every so often, but that recertification period is different for each person. | ||
| That's determined. | ||
| It could be six months, it could be three years that they would have to come back and recertify and say that we still qualify for SNAP. | ||
| And it's different also by state, right? | ||
| There's some that do three months, they do six months, they do a year. | ||
| But in general, there's constant checking that individual circumstances are currently the same. | ||
| Also, individuals who have wages, which is a majority of the individuals, and the back end is constantly checking that wages have not gone up because if it does, it flags it for the state agency, which then contacts the individual and then they have to submit verifications. | ||
| It is the most regulated quality control program that we have among all federal programs. | ||
| And I'll just let people know that if you'd like to join our conversation about federal food aid, you can give us a call. | ||
| The lines are Democrats 202748-8000, Republicans 202-748-8001, and Independents 202-748-8002. | ||
| We also have a line set aside for SNAP recipients. | ||
| So if you are on the SNAP program, please do give us a call. | ||
| A special line is set for you. | ||
| That's 202-748-8003. | ||
| And Gina, I want to ask you about work requirements because you mentioned a lot of people that are on SNAP are working, but the one big beautiful bill did make those, I guess, put in new work requirements. | ||
| Can you give us an idea of what those are and how things are going to change as a result of that bill? | ||
| Yes, since 1996, under the Personal Responsibility Act, individuals Who are 18 to 49 had to show that they were, and they were called, as they are called, able-bodied adults without dependent, which is a misnomer because there are many individuals who have disabilities that just haven't been able to prove them. | ||
| But they can only get SNAP for three months in a three-year period if they cannot show that they are working at least 20 hours a week. | ||
| In 2023, under the Fiscal Responsibility Act, that was expanded from 18 to 49 to 18 to 54, but they were giving certain caveats, certain protections for those who were unhoused, those who are veterans, and those who are youth aging out of foster care, because there's plenty of data that shows that these particular populations are incredibly vulnerable, and it's really difficult for them to show that they're constantly working those 20 hours a week. | ||
| There's some people who are at 17, 18. | ||
| It's really difficult. | ||
| The HR1, the reconciliation law that you just mentioned in the summer, it was expanded to those who are up to 64. | ||
| It took away the protection. | ||
| So that means that veterans, housed youth aging out of foster care, now fall under this category. | ||
| And then also for the first time in history, parents, caretakers of children 14 and up also have to meet this requirement. | ||
| There are some exemptions you have. | ||
| You can show that you have a disability if you are going to school. | ||
| That could be one of the ways that could be exempted. | ||
| And there are states that may exempt if they meet something called unfitness, but it's an incredibly hard program that the disability community has been calling out for years. | ||
| That many individuals who have disabilities also fall through the gaps because it's so difficult to prove to submit verifications in order for eligible people to receive SNAP. | ||
| So as a whole, it just costs the state agencies money and resources because they have to touch the cases constantly to ensure that the right people are in the program, that people are submitting, that they're saying, okay, you utilize one month. | ||
| So what is going to happen is that beginning actually today, many individuals applying moving forward will be held to this requirement. | ||
| Once they recertify or they do their interim report, once they have a touch base with the agency, they will be told you're no longer protected. | ||
| It doesn't matter if you're homeschooling your child. | ||
| It doesn't matter that you, grandmother, have retired and are on a limited income. | ||
| You can't find other jobs. | ||
| You're 63. | ||
| You have to go back to the workforce and show that you're working at least 20 hours a week because helping your daughter taking care of your granddaughter doesn't count. | ||
| So it's incredibly burdensome. | ||
| It's going to cost once it's implemented as a whole. | ||
| The Congressional Budget Office estimates that over 2 million people will be losing benefits every month. | ||
| All right, let's talk to callers and we'll start with Bob in Racine, Wisconsin. | ||
| Democrat, good morning, Bob. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hello, C-SPAN. | |
| I love C-SPAN. | ||
| And Ms. Peter, I like your comment on this. | ||
| All the Republicans have to do is say we're going to vote one vote to open the government, negotiate, and then we're going to bring it back to 60 votes after that. | ||
| I mean, do they think with, how do you look in the mirror when you're getting money and then millions of people are not getting food staff? | ||
| How do you base yourself? | ||
| I mean, they already worked six months, not even a year. | ||
| I would like your comment. | ||
| And I thank you, C-SPAN. | ||
| Gina. | ||
| Gina, any comment on that? | ||
| You know, I'm just going to say that we don't have to wait for the shutdown to open. | ||
| Don't want to apply on that. | ||
| This never had to happen, right? | ||
| The secretary made out in her plan to say that these funds could be utilized. | ||
| Other shutdowns, including first Trump administration's 2018 to 2019 shutdown, didn't cause this. | ||
| They actually issued benefits earlier. | ||
| All the secretary had to do was tell the state agencies, submit your case files. | ||
| We're going to utilize our contingency reserves, our contingency funds, and our reserves, just like we did for WIC, just like we have done for other priorities. | ||
| On November 1st, you will get your benefits on time. | ||
| And even now, they don't have to wait for the lawsuit. | ||
| They don't have to wait for Republicans and Democrats to agree. | ||
| They can just do their job and feed the American people. | ||
| Michael is in Pennsylvania, aligned for Republicans. | ||
| Good morning, Michael. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Just one question. | ||
| I have, I'm on SNAP benefits, the EBT portion of the SNAP. | ||
| I don't get cash. | ||
| But I was wondering, I still have credit on my card. | ||
| And I was wondering, because nobody can seem to tell me, not even the cashiers, am I possible to use my SNAP card? | ||
| I'm not worried about if they're going to put when they're going to restock the card, but I was just wondering if I can still use my card as it is. | ||
| And Michael, you have leftover. | ||
| Is that what you're saying? | ||
| You have leftover from last month? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Correct. | |
| Okay. | ||
| Go ahead, Gina. | ||
| Yes, sir. | ||
| You can utilize it. | ||
| The problem is that unfortunately, USA hasn't communicated with the states and the states that don't know how to communicate. | ||
| But yes, this goes to you and anyone who may be listening. | ||
| If you still have funds in your card, you can continue to utilize it. | ||
| Retailers haven't been contacted. | ||
| You know, state agencies should have put on various information on their website, but your card continues to be active. | ||
| And if you have any funds, even a dollar, you can still utilize your card and purchase whatever items you may need for food. | ||
| And Gina, this is a card. | ||
| It kind of works like a debit card where there's a certain amount put on per month, and then you just draw it down. | ||
| Nobody gets any cash for no, no, no. | ||
| No, no one gets any cash. | ||
| And you can only purchase at certain participating EBT retailers. | ||
| There are about over 260,000 across the country. | ||
| And what can you actually purchase with those cards? | ||
| You know, I understand that you can only purchase food you can't purchase, you know, like cleaning supplies or things like that. | ||
| No tobacco, so no cigarettes or anything like that. | ||
| Yeah, no alcohol and no hot fruits. | ||
| Right. | ||
| So that rotisserie chicken, that potato salad, that maybe help, you know, people with mobility issues so they can't cook, people with disability, older adults, who don't who lack the muscle mass, unhoused individuals who could really, they can't cook a bag of potatoes. | ||
| You know, they can buy hot food. | ||
| It has to be food that they themselves then go home and prepare it. | ||
| It doesn't take into account the individuals may not necessarily have a kitchen or the ability to be able to cook that food. | ||
| And what about unhealthy food and drinks? | ||
| So junk food, right? | ||
| What's usually called junk food or sodas or sugary drinks, that kind of thing? | ||
| There's no definition currently. | ||
| You know, there's a previous administration that said what healthy is, but there's no current definition. | ||
| Individuals can just buy the food that's more culturally and dietary and needed for their own needs, just like, you know, you and I and any individual with a paycheck will buy the food that is needed for them. | ||
| But I will flag that SNAP recipients, their diet is no different from the rest of Americans. | ||
| They do have to sometimes in these difficult times buy items with more caloric intake because the benefits are not enough. | ||
| They're less than $6 a day. | ||
| And with food being what it is, so expensive now, people have to make tough choices to ensure that while this program is supposed to be supplemental, this may be a person's whole budget. | ||
| They have to make sure that they last longer. | ||
| And in many places where SNAP recipients reside, they're called high-need, low-access areas. | ||
| There are very few places where they can find fresh produce or more accessible food that they can meet their needs. | ||
| All right, let's talk to Judith in Melrose, Massachusetts, a SNAP recipient. | ||
| Good morning, Judith. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Morning. | |
| I just have a statement. | ||
| I'm 74 years old, disabled, and don't go to the grocery store. | ||
| I usually have a helper that comes in once a week to help me, but she cannot handle any money because of her job. | ||
| And so the stamps are the only things she can help me with. | ||
| But if I don't have the stamps, I have no food. | ||
| So are you saying you're disabled and are not able to go and buy the food yourself? | ||
| And correct. | ||
| Your aide is also not able to go and buy it for you? | ||
|
unidentified
|
With the rules that she has to help me with, she cannot handle any money. | |
| Oh, I see. | ||
| So what do you do? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Whether it's well, I let her use, I let her use the food stamps. | |
| She can do the food stamps, but she can't handle money money. | ||
| Okay, got it. | ||
| So you are able to have your aide go and buy the food for you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Right. | |
| Only if I have the stamps. | ||
| If I have no stamps, then there's no food. | ||
| So, Judith, have you run out as of today? | ||
| Do you have enough on your card? | ||
|
unidentified
|
For this month. | |
| For this month, yes. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I mean, if it's going to go on longer and longer, I'm going to be in serious trouble. | |
| And then I look and I see what he's doing to the East Wing or the West Wing or whatever wing it is. | ||
| He's putting a multi-million dollar structure in there when there's people starving. | ||
| They're going to be starving if this program doesn't get put back in order. | ||
| All right, Judith. | ||
| So, Gina, what do people do if they do run out and those funds are not replenished in time? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Ma'am, I'm so sorry to hear that. | |
| Massachusetts, it's difficult. | ||
| The first thing is, you know, there's a reason why people rely on these benefits because it's needed, like this situation that is being discussed. | ||
| Specifically for Massachusetts, they have the United Way 211 and older adult senior centers may be able to assist. | ||
| I know that the governor has also allocated some additional funding for food banks, but that doesn't necessarily resolve your issue. | ||
| The issue would have to be that the cards would be able to go into your card. | ||
| I'm not sure if Meals on Wheels or other programs may be able to help you, but and I defer to you. | ||
| I don't know if you can share the contact information. | ||
| I'm happy to connect them with various people in Massachusetts that may be able to assist. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Well, we'll tell people that they can find you on FRAC.org. | ||
| So FRAC.org, if you'd like to reach out to Gina's organization for any additional information. | ||
| Lester, Washington, D.C., Democrat. | ||
| Hi, Lester. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Look, my question to Ms. Nino is this: Will she explore some of the myths behind SNAP? | |
| For instance, the majority of the people who get SNAP benefits are in places like West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, the rural part of America. | ||
| But yet these same people go out and vote for Trump. | ||
| Okay? | ||
| But Ms. Nino also pointed out how this administration has pretty much politicized food, which is a violation of the Hatch Act. | ||
| So she alluded to that. | ||
| We have an affordability issue in America. | ||
| We have a food insecurity issue in America. | ||
| But yet, Donald Trump wants to give $20 billion to Argentina. | ||
| All right, Lester. | ||
| And Gina, about where do SNAP recipients live around the country? | ||
| So it depends. | ||
| So I'm going to answer this. | ||
| SNAP recipients are all across the country. | ||
| There is a higher rate of poverty and a higher rate of hunger. | ||
| in rural areas that do tend to be in red states. | ||
| The issue is that in many of those states, because while it's a federal program, states have the option to administer it in ways that make it more accessible for individuals or create additional barriers. | ||
| So in many of those states, the state agency decides to make it more difficult, more people who jump through additional hoops. | ||
| So there may be less access in those places. | ||
| But as a whole, many of those places do have a higher rate of food insecurity, a higher rate of hunger, and a higher SNAP utilization. | ||
| It is across the whole board. | ||
| While sometimes states like California do come out, we have to realize that they do have a lot more population. | ||
| Some of the most populous states and also largest SNAP recipients are California, followed by Texas, followed by Florida, and then Pennsylvania. | ||
| It's also depending on population. | ||
| A smaller state is not going to have a higher amount of individuals because it really is populations and access and needs and how easier the state agency makes it people for making the program accessible. | ||
| Gary is a SNAP recipient in New Rochelle, New York. | ||
| Good morning, Gary. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, I'd like to say good morning and agree with a couple of people out there. | |
| The woman who's 94 who can't get to the store. | ||
| I have a friend who picks me up and takes me to the store. | ||
| It took me seven years to get off a walker to a cane. | ||
| And I managed to get to the store now, you know, with them, you know, three times a month. | ||
| And so that's not that problem. | ||
| I agree with the guy from DC about the $20 billion, which is two months' worth of food stamps that went to Argentina of our taxpayer money without any congressional approval. | ||
| But what I really wanted to ask you about is the return, the rate of return on the dollar for food stamps. | ||
| I was under the impression that the agriculture department and the people who actually grow the food actually benefit more than $1 per dollar that is put in to our food stamps. | ||
| Could you address that, please? | ||
| And I'll take it off the air. | ||
| Go ahead, Gina. | ||
| Happy to. | ||
| For every dollar spent for a SNAP, it translates to up to $1.80 in local economy. | ||
| Last year brought over $110 billion of federal dollars that went into our municipalities. | ||
| This also translates, just looking at small grocers, not as a whole, the 266,000 retailers. | ||
| It brought seven, almost $8 billion in states as small grocers and retailers, over 240,000 direct jobs and 135,000 indirect jobs. | ||
| That means cashiers, the people who transport the food, over $10 billion in wages. | ||
| That means the cashiers in there, those individuals who live there, property taxes, right? | ||
| Because people, those retailers who are in there, they either lease or buy property, that property taxes going to your municipality that allows your city town manager, your mayor, to utilize it to be able to fund your basic needs. | ||
| And that brought up about $2.6 billion in tax revenue indirect and almost $2 billion in local taxes. | ||
| And this is just small grocers. | ||
| But as a whole, yes, the money goes from USDA basically into retailers who then go and spread it out through wages and multiplying throughout our local economy. | ||
| We got a question for you, Gina, on text about Governor Westmore in Maryland, who signed an executive order, created a state of emergency in order to pay SNAP benefits, asking, is that legal? | ||
|
unidentified
|
And anyway, how does that work? | |
| So other governors have also had to do the same. | ||
| So the way it works is, remember how I mentioned that the state agency sort of holds those files and have the contract with this EBT processor. | ||
| The EBT processor can say the state agency can go to the EBT processor. | ||
| We need to utilize a different type of funding. | ||
| Remember, state agencies never, the state never touches the federal money. | ||
| They never see it, which is why they haven't been able to tap into it. | ||
| So if states have reserves, which many don't, and they're really looking and digging into finding other money to feed their families and their state, they can just, they will speak to their EBT processor who will manage it so that they can issue funds to those individuals. | ||
| And the idea of declaring a state of emergency, is that necessary in order to pay those funds? | ||
| Not necessarily, but governors have to act in their own way. | ||
| It depends on their constitution. | ||
| Okay, let's go overseas to England on the Republican line. | ||
| Paul, you're on the air. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi, Mimi. | |
| And Ms. Aniji, can I just say, what, do you think people who can't eat, can't afford to eat, have they got every basic right to eat? | ||
| Do you think so, Ms. Nintendo? | ||
| And Paul, I'll get to that question, but I just wanted to ask you about England and how that works. | ||
| How does England handle food insecurity among its citizens? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I said that certain benefits people these days have certain benefits to survive on. | |
| Food banks as well, of course, in Britain as well. | ||
| We have food banks in currently as the SNAPA in Medica. | ||
| So they have a sort of food banks a year, I think. | ||
| So that's what I'm here. | ||
| And Gina, he's asking if it's a basic right for people to eat. | ||
| I think we can all agree that it's a basic right for people to be able to have access to food. | ||
| And our country made that agreement in the 70s when it decided to span the program nationwide to ensure that families, children, and older adults, everyone in America had the right and the resources to eat in order for our country to be able to thrive and have a strong workforce. | ||
| Covington, Kentucky, Line for Democrats. | ||
| Mike, you're on with Gina Plato Nino. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, I have three quick points. | |
| Number one, I think the Republicans, they're just trying to hold this money so that they can see how long it's going to take people to have to start leaving grocery stores. | ||
| Number two is that people that are diabetic, they have to have food to eat or they can't take their medicine. | ||
| And number three, I don't think there's going to be a run on toilet paper because you got to eat to make turns. | ||
| Any comment, Gina, on the diabetics that need to eat? | ||
| Absolutely. | ||
| This is one, you know, unfortunately, the bill that you mentioned, the HR1, also got it. | ||
| You know, billions of dollars from also Medicaid. | ||
| SNAP is the people on SNAP are less likely to be in the emergency room. | ||
| They save an average of $2,000 a month in medical and medical issues because food, the worst health outcome, is hunger. | ||
| So, when individuals don't have access to food, they go to the ER more, which increases state and federal costs in terms of when people visit these places because they are not having their basic needs. | ||
| And now it's even more dire because that bill also pretty much weakened the system for individuals to be able to access health care. | ||
| So, it's very important that the administration do its job and release those funds so that families can have the food that they need at the table. | ||
| Now, Gina, the Republican side, of course, is that they're saying if Democrats would just vote to pass a clean CR, then SNAP would be fully funded and we wouldn't have this problem anyway. | ||
| Does your organization take a position on whether or not you advocate for one solution or another to the government's shutdown? | ||
| We take a position that the Department of Agriculture can act the same way that it did for WIC, the same way that it's doing for Argentina, the same way that it's doing for certain special farmers for them to utilize the contingency and reserve funds as in their authority. | ||
| This has nothing to do with the shutdown in terms of the way that people are being held as political pieces, but ensuring that individuals are able to access what they need so they can tap into contingency, they can tap into reserves, they don't need to wait for the government to reopen. | ||
| Dan in Glenside, Pennsylvania, Independent Line, you're on the air. | ||
|
unidentified
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Yeah, thanks. | |
| I'm with the Marine Corps League and everything, and when the holidays come up, we often have out gift cards for supermarkets and stuff. | ||
| And with the SNAP program, it's really putting a strain on our finances. | ||
| Pre-COVID, we were able to maintain maybe a $25,000 balance. | ||
| We're lucky if we can keep five, six, or seven thousand dollar balance anymore. | ||
| If there's anybody out there that wants to dynamite, we'd appreciate it. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| And, Gina, your thoughts on if people want to help, how do they do that? | ||
| What's the best way for people to help? | ||
| I contact your state. | ||
| Each state is different. | ||
| They have set up different funds. | ||
| Different philanthropic organizations are trying to work. | ||
| I do know that food banks are overloaded. | ||
| They have been overloaded since the pandemic. | ||
| To put this burden on them to solve the solution is just inhumane. | ||
| It's not right. | ||
| There's just not enough food and not enough people to be able to distribute this food. | ||
| So I would say contact your local community, your state, your mayors to see which organizations are giving out those resources for people. | ||
| Jim, Republican, Wildwood, Florida, good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
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Yes, ma'am. | |
| Again, I'd like to say good morning to all my Democrat communists out there that say no kings, no kings. | ||
| And all they want is governments become their God. | ||
| I mean, they just be on end of health care, food. | ||
| All these people that are out there marching around with their signs saying no kings, take all that money. | ||
| All you guys group together, start food pantries, eliminate the big, wasteful, out-of-control federal government. | ||
| Why don't you just do that? | ||
| And it's just unbelievable that people, you know, my brother lost his job back in the Rust Belt in 1982. | ||
| He went out and found other work. | ||
| It didn't pay as well. | ||
| He lived with his means. | ||
| Me and my wife worked our bust on our butts. | ||
| We had two kids, not three or four. | ||
| Plus, we had a father and a mother in the house. | ||
| I'm sorry. | ||
| You're lazy. | ||
| You're a drunk. | ||
| You do drugs. | ||
| You don't go to school. | ||
| You need to start stepping up. | ||
| The federal government cannot provide everything for the American people. | ||
| They got to take care of the big picture. | ||
| All right, Jim, let's get a response. | ||
| Go ahead, Gina. | ||
| You know, everyone's entitled to their opinion, but the facts don't lie. | ||
| We do know that the reason why we're in this situation is that tax rates for the billionaires of this country and high corporations is what's paying these, is what was exchanged in order to cut down Medicaid, in order to cut down SNAP. | ||
| Like I said, majority, 80% of the households have individuals who are working. | ||
| They are just not making enough because jobs are not out there. | ||
| The gig economy is real. | ||
| And if we really want to take that five-year-old and tell him that he's lazy because he's going to school and not having a job, then we really need to look at what our country is doing because people are working two to three jobs. | ||
| And I can say this because as a legal services attorney for many years, I saw many clients who said, I'm just not making enough and I have to go through this incredibly burdensome process. | ||
| It is a lot easier in this country to get a loan for half a million. | ||
| It takes you 60 seconds to get pre-approved than it is for you to get SNAP. | ||
| You have to jump through various hoops. | ||
| Some applications take over an hour. | ||
| You have to disclose so much information. | ||
| And the people on this program are the most vulnerable Americans. | ||
| There are veterans who have fought for our country, who don't have resources, who are living on the streets, and they have the right to be able to have food and the resources that they need like everyone else in America, not just billionaires and not just very wealthy corporations. | ||
| Jeffrey and West Virginia Line for Democrats, you're next. | ||
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unidentified
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Yes, I'm on the air. | |
| Yes, you are. | ||
|
unidentified
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Yes, I'm from West Virginia. | |
| Like you said, there's a lot of rural counties down here. | ||
| And I didn't know until I seen on TV that West Virginia is the number one state for SNAP benefits. | ||
| And they just love Trump, but they love him, but don't even realize they're going to be affected the most. | ||
| I'm not on SNAP, but when I did apply for SNAP, like the young lady just was saying, you guessed there, they want you to go through a bunch of hoops and hoops and fill out all these paperwork. | ||
| And then when they said it was approved, they said $23. | ||
| So I just said, forget about it. | ||
| But I just hate to see what's going to happen if people don't get the stamps here in West Virginia. | ||
| You think they're going to sit by and let their kids starve? | ||
| Are they going to go into Walmart and Kroger's and start stealing? | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
| But West Virginia is the number one state in the United States for SNAP benefits, and they love Trump. | ||
| Have a nice day. | ||
| Gina, any comments on that? | ||
| That's unfortunate that people have to be put in very dire situations. | ||
| I do think, you know, again, individuals should look at what not, you know, I hate to say this because food pantries are really at capacity. | ||
| And for every meal that a food pantry provides, SNAP provides nine. | ||
| But I would say to the people in West Virginia, if they are number one for the president, call them and tell them that he has the power right now to tell the secretary to issue contingency and reserve funds so that they don't have to suffer. | ||
| Gina, I want to ask you about fraud in the SNAP program. | ||
| Is it possible for somebody that's on the SNAP program to sell their card or to otherwise game the system? | ||
| What are the big issues when it comes to fraud in SNAP? | ||
| SNAP is one of the most rigorous programs, quality control. | ||
| Like the gentleman before said, you have to go through so many hoops. | ||
| They have one of the lowest percentage of fraud. | ||
| When we do see it, the big fraud that we do see is something called skimming, is these criminals who have been stealing people's EBT numbers. | ||
| And when people go to the grocery store and swipe their card, no money is there. | ||
| And this has cost our country and states billions and billions of dollars because the EBT cards don't have a chip like our credit cards do, where like people can't just steal that information. | ||
| And once those monies are stolen, they're not given back. | ||
| There was an opportunity this past December to ensure that individuals will get money back that had been stolen from them. | ||
| But Elon Musk put in a tweet, don't do it. | ||
| And so the whole optimus that was being discussed sort of fell through the ground. | ||
| And so now individuals who are being victims of this fraud, of this skimming, criminals across the country stealing their benefits of these vulnerable Americans have no recourse. | ||
| Here's David in Chadbourne, North Carolina, Independent Line. | ||
| Hi, David. | ||
|
unidentified
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Good morning, Mimi. | |
| Good morning, Ms. Platino. | ||
| I just, I got a couple questions. | ||
| The first thing is, I knew an elderly person. | ||
| She was a widow, and she was getting assistance from food stamps. | ||
| She was getting $15 a month. | ||
| And she was drawing Social Security off of her husband. | ||
| And her monthly living from that was like $560. | ||
| So she's getting $15 a month, food stamps, $560 from the Social Security program. | ||
| And I'm seeing other people getting $2,000. | ||
| Young people, and this woman was in her 80s. | ||
|
unidentified
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And so my question is, how does that work? | |
| And how does that justify it? | ||
| I understand there's a lot of paperwork you got to fill out, but how do they come to that conclusion? | ||
| And then also, my second question, Mina, you touched on it earlier, was fraud. | ||
| I'm sure that there's fraud in that system. | ||
| And I was just wondering, what do you guys do, Ms. Flatanino? | ||
| What kind of actions do y'all take to ensure, how proactive are you to ensure there's no fraud in that system? | ||
| All right. | ||
| David, go ahead, Gina. | ||
| So I think that was a two-part question. | ||
| Was it about the amount that the individual was getting? | ||
| How is it determined how much you get for each month? | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| So again, it depends on the state. | ||
| Some states have something called categorical eligibility that allows, for example, older adults or people with disabilities that they can claim up to 200% of their income, but the net income has to be 130% for the most part, which again, it's very low. | ||
| When I say 100%, it's very low. | ||
|
unidentified
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It's the poorest of the poorest. | |
| And so it depends on what your, the wages you bring in, whether it's through Social Security or whether you are working. | ||
| And that is calculated based then also on what are your expenses. | ||
| So that's why no SNAP benefit in no case is ever the same, because my circumstances may be very different than your circumstances. | ||
| So they look how much I pay for, you know, if I'm paying utilities, how much I pay for rent. | ||
| And so when you do, if I have medical expenses, if I'm an older adult, if I have disabilities, they look at all of those expenses deductions and then they come up with the number that individuals get. | ||
| But like I said, on average, it is about less than $6 a day. | ||
| And yes, for the most part, older adults who are receiving Social Security get very little, as you can tell, even if they are getting Social Security, because you really have to have very low income in order to receive SNAP benefits. | ||
| And then the second question is: we are working incredibly hard with, at the state and at the federal level, trying to call on elective officials to pit the chip cards that we mentioned. | ||
| And like I said, this is the most rigorous, quality controlled program that there is. | ||
| And we're just trying to make sure that it's strengthened to protect individuals as well. | ||
| All right. | ||
| That's Gina Plata Nino, interim SNAP director at the Food Research and Action Center. | ||
| You can find them online at frac.org. | ||
| Gina, thanks so much for joining us today. | ||
| Thank you for having us. |