Wolfeboro Rep. Bradley defends bill to reduce food stamps

CONCORD — A bill that tightens the requirements for New Hampshire residents to receive food stamps "severely limits access to nutritional resource programs for the 139,730 food insecure people in our state," according to Democratic critics.

Proponents say the proposal aims to rein in food stamp spending and encourage workforce participation.

The legislation, passed last month by the New Hampshire Senate, faces a test in a House committee this week. On Wednesday, April 12, at 1 p.m. in Legislative Office Building, Room 205, the House Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs will take up the bill.

Senate Bill 7, "relative to eligibility for food stamps and establishing the Granite Workforce pilot program," aims "to place low-income individuals into unsubsidized jobs in high labor need areas, transition them to self-sufficiency through providing career pathways with specific skills, and assist in eliminating barriers to work such as transportation and childcare," according to a bill summary. The requirements for food stamps, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, would revert to an earlier standard.

New Hampshire expanded its eligibility for some applicant families up to 185 percent of the federal poverty line, and the legislation would reinstate a standard for a gross income limit at 130 percent of the federal poverty line, with some exceptions.

But income exemptions exist for families with young children, said Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, a sponsor of a bill.

"It's a safety valve," said Bradley. "We don't want to hurt families with children, but at the same time we want to make sure we're encouraging work and work training."

The legislation prohibits the Department of Health and Human Services from seeking a waiver of federal work requirements for food stamp eligibility without the approval of the Health and Human Services Oversight Committee in the Legislature.

The bill also proposes "to establish a pilot program by using allowable federal funds available from the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program to end the dependence of needy parents on governmental programs by promoting job and work preparation and placing them into high labor need jobs," according to its language.

In a statement following the Senate vote, members of the Democratic Senate Caucus condemned the legislation.

State Sen. Lou D'Allesandro, D-Manchester, said the legislation "severely limits access to nutritional resource programs for the 139,730 food insecure people in our state, many of whom are veterans. We find this legislation unconscionable and the antithesis of what New Hampshire represents, and have heard such from a broad range of our constituents."

Democratic Sen. Dan Feltes of Concord said, "The goal of this amendment is purportedly to address barriers to employment such as substance abuse, lack of access to affordable childcare and insufficient skills training. But here's the thing: you don't get credit for helping financially insecure people in our state find work while simultaneously vilifying those same people for needing help with their basic needs in the meantime. That effort rings hollow and disingenuous."

"We're trying to make sure that the resources are there for people at 130 percent of poverty or less," said Bradley, noting that New Hampshire veered from the federal guidelines during the Obama administration.

"These were the guidelines up until eight years ago, then food stamp policy got a lot different in New Hampshire," he said.

In fiscal year 2009, state agencies issued approximately $50.4 billion in food stamp benefits to a monthly average 15.2 million households or 33.5 million people participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, according to a federal report. Six years later, in fiscal year 2015, state agencies issued approximately $70.6 billion in SNAP benefits to a monthly average 22.5 million households or 45.8 million people, according to a report by the Food and Nutrition Service, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Program Accountability and Administration Division.

In fiscal year 2009, in New Hampshire, 78,942 people a month received food stamps, or 38,459 households, for an allocation of $115,948,720, the Food and Nutrition Service reported.

Six years later, in fiscal year 2015, in New Hampshire, 106,296 people a month received food stamps, or 51,478 households, for an allocation of $132,497,777, the Food and Nutrition Service reported.

"We're trying to encourage people to get into the workforce who may not be in the workforce now," said Bradley.

Bradley noted the legislation provides an opportunity for people on TANF to go into the workforce, and the businesses that hire them would receive $2,000 once the TANF recipients were hired and another $2,000 once the businesses had employed those individuals for three months.

The bill stipulates that the total cost of the pilot program for job training will not exceed $9 million in federal TANF funds.