As the Farm Bill heads to the U.S. Senate, one sticking point involves cuts to a program that provides food assistance.
Enrollment in SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is decreasing amid legislative changes.
Federal requirements are raising the age limit for work requirements from 54 to 64, so some adults who were previously exempt now have to work to continue to receive their benefits. And that’s just one of multiple eligibility changes.
David Just, a professor of science and business at Cornell University, said while there is some mild evidence the changes are pushing some people to work who are able, there is another effect.
"This is probably also hitting some people who it's not intended for,” Just said. “People who may have health problems that aren't easy to document, or something like that, that it is not pushing to work. It's just pushing them out of some food."
Just said as SNAP enrollment is going down, the country is also seeing an increase in food insecurity, though that is likely caused by a number of economic factors in addition to changes in SNAP.
"It's hard to sort these things out because a lot of these things take place with some pretty strong economic ties in the background that are hard to sort of disentangle,” he said.
But Just said SNAP is playing a crucial role for millions of people.
“There is tremendous evidence that it is effective at reducing food insecurity,” he said. “People who are on SNAP eat better diets and are able to provide for their needs in a way that those who are in similar circumstances economically who don’t have it are not able to.”
