WASHINGTON — Thousands of Alaskans could lose access to food subsidies under the Farm Bill that is currently making its way through the U.S. House.
Lawmakers have so far included provisions adding work requirements to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps. Members of Alaska's all-Republican congressional delegation have expressed concern about how the work requirements might play out in rural areas, where opportunities are limited, or among Alaska's Native population.
House leaders have said they plan to bring the bill to a vote next week. The process will then move to the Senate for consideration.
Congress passes a farm bill roughly every five years, setting a broad array of agricultural, food and environmental policies. The bill also funds the SNAP program, which generally accounts for about 80 percent of the bill's $867 billion, 10-year price tag. The current farm bill, the Agricultural Act of 2014, provides funding through 2018.
That means that the bill, in some form, is must-pass legislation this year. It will need bipartisan support in the Senate to pass the 60-vote threshold.
The proposed bill tightens work requirements; some already exist. Able-bodied adults aged 18 to 49 who have no dependents have to work at least 20 hours a week to be eligible for the benefits for more than three months within a three-year period. The requirements don't extend to people who are disabled or pregnant.
The House bill would extend those work requirements up to age 59, starting in 2021, and requires that people provide proof of those 20 hours of work every month. In 2026, the minimum work requirement would go up to 25 hours a week. Anyone who runs afoul of those requirements would be cut off from SNAP benefits for a year.
The bill would also shift some funding to job training.
Murphy McCollough, spokeswoman for Alaska Rep. Don Young, said that the congressman is concerned about the impact of the work requirements on people in rural and remote communities, where employment and training opportunities can be scarce.
She said Young is watching the debate, but did not indicate how he might vote next week.
There were about 92,000 Alaskans receiving SNAP benefits in March, according to the state. That's down from more than 95,000 Alaskans on SNAP in January. The number of recipients varies month to month, as people go on and off the program. Roughly 4,000 to 5,000 people apply for SNAP benefits in Alaska each month, according to state data.
In Alaska, SNAP benefits are based on the cost of food in the area, divided into designations of "urban," "rural 1" and "rural 2," with monthly benefits of $137, $185 and $236, respectively.
In Alaska, "we do voluntary requirements for the employment and training program and we're just getting started on beefing that up," said Monica Windom, director of Alaska's Department of Public Assistance, which administers SNAP in the state.
It "doesn't appear that there's any exemption for people in rural areas," and "unemployment is quite a bit higher in those areas," Windom said. The bill's penalties for quitting a job or refusing a job are progressive, up to one year, Windom said.
Her concern, she said, was just how much extra paperwork the requirements seemed to add. Even assuming that the number of beneficiaries went down, it would still be "a really heavy lift" to offer the right amount of case work per client, she said.
"Also, a lot of the things that they're asking states to do would mean changes to our eligibility program, which can be quite costly as well," Windom said.
"It would be a heavy lift, person-wise, as far as staff are concerned," Windom said. The bill includes "bigger changes that can require us to reprogram the system."
Not all provisions would cut the number of beneficiaries, Windom said. There is one part of the House farm bill that could add people to the rolls.
The proposed bill would change how child support is accounted for when people apply for benefits. Under the current law, the state looks at whether people meet an income threshold for benefits, and then decides how much of a benefit they will receive by including various deductions to their gross salary.
But the new law would deduct child support from someone's gross income before you decide if they are eligible for food stamps, Windom said. That would, presumably, boost the rolls. But there's no way to tell by how much, Windom said. The state doesn't track the status and situation of people who are denied SNAP benefits.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said that the bill would cut spending on SNAP by $9.2 billion from 2019 to 2028 "because it would cause some people to lose eligibility."
"The federal government's administrative costs for this provision would increase by $7.7 billion over the same period … mostly to fund training," the CBO said. "Under this provision, SNAP spending would decline, on net, by $1.5 billion over the 2019-2028 period."
The changes wouldn't apply to the majority of households receiving SNAP benefits, since 76 percent go to households with children, according to the federal government.
Currently there are four agencies in the Anchorage area helping SNAP beneficiaries get work and training at no cost to the state, Windom said.
Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan said he is looking into the bill, after getting questions from Alaskans on a recent trip back in the state. He noted that during negotiations over the (ultimately failed) health care bill, he secured language that exempted Alaska Natives from Medicaid requirements. The health care bill "had language that said, look, states can make this call with regard to their citizens, but that is a trust responsibility as it relates to the federal government," Sullivan said. "On the SNAP side, I'm looking into it."
Windom did not have information immediately available on how many of the program's participants are Alaska Natives. About 25 percent of Alaska SNAP cases involve an employed adult, Windom said.
The House Agriculture Committee distributed information arguing that the work requirements are hardly enforced. Among the 3.5 million households with an individual subject to the work requirements, only 30 percent are working, the committee said.