Congresswoman Beatty Joins Nearly 100 House Democrats in Introducing Protect SNAP Act

Statement

Last week, U.S. Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (OH-03) signed on as an original cosponsor of the Protect SNAP Act, H.R. 5349, a bill that seeks to prevent the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from implementing stricter work requirements under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The bill follows the USDA's final rule restricting hundreds of thousands of Americans' access to SNAP, including an estimated 45,000 Ohioans.

"At a time when nearly 75 percent of SNAP recipients who are working or recently worked have lost their job, this rule will do nothing to create new jobs, lift people out of poverty, or solve food insecurity," Beatty said. "On the contrary, the Trump Administration's latest move will take food away from hungry Americans, including 45,000 Ohioans, and reinforces harmful and just plain wrong stereotypes about our most vulnerable citizens."

According to research from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), most working-age SNAP recipients are employed, but many are working jobs that provide low-pay, with uncertain schedules and little-to-no benefits such as paid sick leave. In fact, nearly three-quarters of adults who participate in SNAP in any given month work either that month or within a year of enrolling. CBPP research also found that over 50 percent of SNAP recipients in a typical month were working in that month and 74 percent worked in the year before or after applying for SNAP benefits.

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