President Trump's July legislation threatens SNAP benefits for adults 18 to 65 without disabilities, jobs requiring 20 hours weekly, or children under 14, delaying November implementation due to a government shutdown. While Nelson Scott, a 38-year-old felon receiving $292 monthly, faces loss of aid despite employment barriers, critics like Brick Williams argue the rules curb dependency, sparking heated debates over whether Scott's felony record justifies his situation or if he should pursue trades. Ultimately, the policy shift highlights deep ideological divides regarding welfare eligibility and personal responsibility. [Automatically generated summary]
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Felony Friendly Job Requirements00:07:42
All right, so this perfectly healthy 38-year-old dude just lost his DBT and his reaction is blowing up the internet.
Ashamed of nothing, but offended by everything.
Devastated, actually.
Continuing coverage now on the aftermath of the federal government shutdown and the new eligibility requirements for food assistance benefits.
Well, if you are what the government calls able-bodied, you could lose access to SNAP.
Prox 17 is Karen Aguilar telling us what those requirements are and brings us reaction tonight.
Government officials say if you are 18 to 65 years old, you don't have a disability, you don't live with kids under the age of 14, and you don't work at least 20 hours a week, you'll likely lose your SNAP benefits.
Some people on SNAP tell me they don't know if they'll have enough money to afford groceries.
That's some bullshit.
Nelson Scott is on the verge of losing access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
He is 38, not disabled, doesn't have any kids, doesn't go to school, and doesn't have a job.
Pull your pants up.
That's crazy.
You're 38 years old.
No kids, no job.
You're healthy.
You don't go to school.
You ain't doing nothing.
You're just a leech on society.
Yeah.
What are you doing all day?
That's 24 hours in a day.
What are you doing all day?
Those are just some of the reasons he is no longer eligible for SNAP benefits.
How much did SNAP help you?
It helped me a lot.
I get $2.92 a month.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture crackdown is led by President Trump, who signed the one big beautiful bill into law in July.
The government shutdown stalled the November 1st deadline for implementation.
However, these changes are still coming up.
We help Sidney Anderson is a senior director of nutrition advocacy with the Tennessee Justice Center.
Because of rules like this, we can see individuals that are going to be forced to skip meals.
She points out senior citizens and children between the age of 15 and 18 will be most impacted.
Brick Williams is a conservative political analyst.
A 15 or 16 year old can take care of theirself at home while you go work.
There's no reason you can't be working.
Exactly.
Exactly.
You know what?
Like, Democrats condition their constituents to be dependent on the government.
Yeah.
Like they subsidize irresponsibility.
When you do that, you think these people are just one day going to be responsible people of society?
And he's only getting $292 a month.
He can go out and find any job that pays more than that.
Any job.
He'll get that in like a day's work.
Worst case scenario, three days.
He's dependent on $292 a month to live.
He can't go.
That is crazy.
What job that doesn't will not pay you will not enable you to earn $292 a month?
That's like average, what, two days of work?
Any mediocre job?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And he says it's totally unacceptable.
Yeah, some people just don't have no ambition.
Yeah.
Well, the money thing, they don't have the wherewithal.
We can say he's lazy.
No, I don't think he's lazy.
No, that dude's lazy.
I think it's more than that.
I think you're giving that man too much credit.
He's 38 years old, don't even know how to wear a pair of pants.
There are plenty of jobs out there.
Scott tells me, as a convicted felon, getting a job isn't easy.
Well, I will get one.
Whose fault is that?
So you're a convicted fellow, you can't get a job.
So now it's the government responsibility to take care of you.
Yeah, that's backwards.
I wonder what he's got a felony for.
Oh, I'm probably armed robbery.
I'm not hiring this dude.
That's dude, what you do for armed robbery?
Scott tells me, as a convicted felon, getting a job isn't easy.
I will get one if y'all give me one.
Y'all be felony friendly and hire us.
The Tennessee Department of Human Services.
You got to be felony friendly.
Felony friendly?
Hey, come on, man.
Me, if I want to wish to employ somebody, I'm going to do a background check.
Sometimes I might take a chance.
Oh, you made a stupid decision based on what you did, but you probably got something very significant on your rap sheet that nobody's willing to take a chance on you.
You've actually absolutely destroyed people's trust in you by the horrible, despicable crimes you committed early on in your life.
Yeah, like if I was in his shoes, I would employ myself.
Yeah.
I would learn how to cut hair.
I would do something that I would learn a trade so I could employ myself.
Yeah.
Be self-employed.
I would learn how to do women's hair.
I would learn something.
I would learn something.
I would learn how to do nails, eyelashes.
I would learn how to cut hair, do women's hair.
Man, man, I'd be doing people's toenails, hands.
Yep.
Kevin's.
I just do like the Latinos do.
I go home, make a bunch of mamwiches, and then have all the meat and the buns.
I'd take a little cart and go inside or, hey, mamwich is here.
$29 on a mamwich.
Buy two mamwiches.
You get a free drink soda.
I would do something.
Yeah.
Who wants to sit around and wait for a check from the government?
Who can't make $292 a month?
You could be, you could create a YouTube channel and just spit absolute garbage and make $292 a month.
Yeah.
More than that.
Yeah.
Because hell, you will be a multi-millionaire if you apply, if you use Teeth's idea and film it and upload it on YouTube.
People watch that.
Yeah.
Convicted felon here started my own manwitch business.
Hell, don't stop at manwitches.
Do hamburger helper.
Do all that.
Man, but don't do it in the hood.
You're going to get robbed.
Some fella is going to take off.
Absolutely.
Because you're going to be a cash-based business.
You'll be an easy target.
You can't possess a gun.
You're a felon.
Yeah.
And then you see why nobody wants to hire a felon.
Right.
Services still hasn't answered me.
When the new changes will be implemented, we will keep you updated if we hear back.
Reporting in Nashville, Karen Aguilar, Fox 17 News, your code station.
Devastated, actually.
Continuing.
Devastated.
Devastated.
You've probably been on EBT for like, I would say, the majority of your adult life, and you never tried to achieve anything better than that.
You know what's sad about this whole story is you're happy with $292 a month to make ends meet.
So I'm pretty sure wherever you're residing at, you're not paying any rent.
You're not paying nobody.
You're not helping with electricity.
You're not helping with groceries or anything.
You're just a leek.
Bloodsucker.
Vampire.
A disgrace.
Now, I do have some empathy for you.
You did something probably horrible wrong early on in your life, and you totally regret that.
But hey, that's not, that does not justify giving you a reason to just stay home and just be a leech on society.
You have to overcome those ramifications you have to endure because of your stupid, stupid decisions you made early on in your life.
Regretting Early Life Crimes00:00:47
I'm glad we never, I never broke the law.
I've never been convicted of a felon or anything.
Well, you never got caught.
I've never, I've never committed a felony.
Yeah.
I've committed several misdemeanors, but I never got caught.
Felony, you out there doing something crazy.
Felonies, felony is a serious charge.
You know, everybody, for the most part, I would say at one time or another, have actually made mistakes, made a mistake, misdemeanors.
Yeah, but when you commit a felony, when you commit felonies, you don't care.