Debt deal will require some older Missourians to work to keep getting food assistance

Congress is poised to expand the ranks of older Missouri residents who must work to receive food assistance as part of a bipartisan compromise to keep the United States from defaulting on its debt.

The deal negotiated by Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy requires able-bodied individuals ages 50 to 54 without children at home to work or receive job training to remain eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. More than 666,000 Missourians get help paying for groceries under the program and the work rules currently only apply to those 18 to 49.

Food banks and other anti-hunger advocates warn raising the age limit will only serve to harm older middle-age adults at a time in their lives when they may start to feel the health effects of a lifetime of labor and are sometimes called to take care of both young grandchildren and aging parents. The likely changes come as a federal lawsuit alleges Missouri has wrongly denied thousands of low-income residents food assistance because of a dysfunctional call center.

But the compromise legislation also exempts homeless individuals, veterans and young adults who have aged out of foster care from work requirements – a potentially significant help to individuals in those groups who find themselves in precarious financial situations.

Karen Siebert, an advocacy and public policy advisor at Harvesters, a food bank that serves the Kansas City region, said she is very concerned by the debt deal’s food assistance provisions, despite the new exemptions. She noted the measure includes no new funding for job training.

“I think what this assumes, foundationally, which I think is an incorrect assumption, is that the only barrier to work is motivation – if you’re hungry enough, you will work. Well, that is not the case,” Siebert said.

The deal is expected to expand the number of people receiving SNAP benefits nationwide by about 78,000, according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. It’s not clear whether the measure will result in a net increase or decrease in SNAP enrollment in Missouri.

The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington-based left-leaning think tank, has previously estimated raising the age limit to 54 could place up to 12,000 Missouri residents at risk of losing benefits. No public estimates exist for how many Missourians may qualify for benefits under work exemptions for homeless individuals, veterans and those leaving foster care.

The Missouri Department of Social Services, which administers SNAP, doesn’t appear to provide exact numbers of individuals enrolled who are between 50 and 54. According to reports on the agency’s website, in March 216,714 people between 18 and 49 received benefits, while 84,215 enrollees were over 60.

The impact may be more limited in Kansas, because state lawmakers earlier this year voted to extend work rules for able-bodied adults without children up to age 59. Individuals are also required to work at least 30 hours a week or participate in a job training program.

Siebert argued the new exemptions themselves appear to implicitly acknowledge that some individuals face real challenges to working. “They know how difficult this is going to be for people, or they wouldn’t exempt anyone,” she said.

The House is set to vote on the bill on Wednesday night. Rep. Cori Bush, a Democrat who represents St. Louis, has offered an amendment with Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee of California to strip out the SNAP changes for older adults from the legislation. Bush has said the changes will “rip food from vulnerable people’s mouths.”

“That’s great,” Bush said of the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the legislation will result in more people receiving SNAP benefits. “The issue though with that is it also means the group that will lose benefits disproportionately will be Black people and Black women.”

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Kansas City Democrat, said that while he had committed to voting yes, he was struggling with his decision. He said it is important for the country to avoid default, but that he doesn’t believe the legislation is fair to poor people.

He compared the situation to the 2008 financial crisis, when Congress bailed out banks as the economy teetered on the brink of collapse because of fiscally unsound loaning decisions made by some of the country’s biggest banks.

“We almost took the economy of the United States down the toilet and nobody went to jail,” Cleaver said. “It makes no sense. But when it’s poor people, all of a sudden, we’re gonna be all over them. We’re gonna test you.”

Some GOP lawmakers and their allies have praised the expanded work requirements by emphasizing the value of work. Rep. Ann Wagner, a St. Louis County Republican, listed work requirements as one of the reasons she liked the deal negotiated between Biden and McCarthy.

“To the extent that this [deal] is getting things done – and doing something that I still think is both common sense and conservative – is a plus for someone like myself,” Wagner said Tuesday.

Kevin Roberts, president of the conservative Heritage Foundation, said in a statement that the work requirements in the bill would have a “modest but real impact in preserving government programs for those who truly need them.”

Still, some Republicans have faulted the debt deal for not tightening work rules enough. Rep. Chip Roy, an ultraconservative Texas Republican, called the requirements “weak” and criticized them for not applying to Medicaid participants.

The number of families receiving SNAP in Missouri remains above pre-pandemic levels, but has fallen by tens of thousands since enrollment peaked in the summer of 2020.

In February 2022, two SNAP applicants sued Missouri Department of Social Services Acting Director Robert Knodell, alleging the call center the agency uses to process food assistance applications is so backlogged that low-income residents are being denied benefits. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, alleges many applicants can’t complete an interview process in the required 30 days, causing them to be denied or lose existing benefits even if they meet the income qualifications.

As of March 2023, the average time to process applications was 14 days – meaning processing times for a significant portion of applicants extend well beyond half a month.

Two additional plaintiffs joined the suit earlier this year. In April, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s Office in a court filing denied many of the allegations against DSS. The document also says the two original plaintiffs have successfully enrolled in SNAP.

The Missouri Department of Social Services didn’t directly answer questions about the Biden-McCarthy deal’s potential effects on SNAP. Instead, a spokesman for the Missouri Office of Administration responded with a written statement.

“The State of Missouri is monitoring the situation closely and working on contingency plans to limit any impacts to the short-term to the greatest extent possible,” said Chris Moreland, the spokesman for the Office of Administration.

Despite past attempts by Republican state lawmakers to tighten work requirements, Missouri’s work requirements largely reflect federal rules. Able-bodied adults without children can only receive benefits for three months out of every three years unless they work or participate in job training at least 80 hours a month (20 hours a week).

While those requirements kick in once recipients turn 18, child welfare advocates are welcoming a provision in the debt deal to exempt those leaving foster care until they’re 25. Several hundred young adults age out of foster care every year in Missouri, though it’s not clear how many receive SNAP.

Lori Ross, founder of FosterAdopt Connect and a long-time child advocate in Kansas and Missouri, said in general young people leaving foster care have experienced multiple, complex traumas and have not had a typical upbringing. Because of that, they may not have learned some of the basic skills or have things like professional attire needed to hold a job.

“Getting those young people to be gainfully employed and to maintain employment is a process that requires additional time and attention,” Ross said. “Honestly, the exemption that they’re putting in place for that population is really a humane and hugely beneficial thing to create a little bit more cushion for those young people.”