The SNAP shutdown
The SNAP program is what used to be known as food stamps. Now it’s done with EBT cards, which work like this:
Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) is an electronic system that allows a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participant to pay for food using SNAP benefits. When a participant shops at a SNAP authorized retail store, their SNAP EBT account is debited to reimburse the store for food that was purchased. EBT is in use in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam. EBT has been the sole method of SNAP issuance in all states since June of 2004.
It’s been clear for years that there’s a lot of fraud in the system. From the same site:
EBT fraud, including the use of card skimming to steal benefits, is on the rise. Modernizing EBT, including the introduction of chip cards for SNAP EBT, is an important step to ensure that SNAP benefits are protected.
That’s certainly not the only form of fraud to which the system is subject.
And what of non-citizens? See this:
Only U.S. citizens and certain lawfully present noncitizens may receive SNAP benefits. Some lawfully present noncitizens must wait 5 years before getting SNAP benefits. You can find more information about whether you can get SNAP as a noncitizen at www.fns.usda.gov/snap/recipient/eligibility/non-citizen.
However, that link only leads to a page that says the information is being updated. But generally, illegal immigrants are not supposed to be covered:
Undocumented immigrants, including DACA holders, are ineligible to receive most federal public benefits, including means-tested benefits such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, sometimes referred to as food stamps), regular Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Undocumented immigrants are ineligible for health care subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and are prohibited from purchasing unsubsidized health coverage on ACA exchanges. Undocumented immigrants may be eligible for a handful of benefits that are deemed necessary to protect life or guarantee safety in dire situations, such as emergency Medicaid, access to treatment in hospital emergency rooms, or access to healthcare and nutrition programs under the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
Of course, many initially illegal aliens end up getting legal status through the asylum process. However, although some are valid asylum-seekers, some are not.
The reason we’re talking about this today is that the shutdown would ordinarily mean that EBT cards are no longer funded as of November 1.
Some statistics here on illegal immigrants and welfare programs:
Of households headed by illegal immigrants, CIS estimated that 59 percent use one or more welfare programs — cash, food assistance, Medicaid, or housing.
Illegal immigrant households have especially high use of food programs, with 48 percent enrolled in one or more of these programs — SNAP, WIC, or school lunch/breakfast.
In particular, our analysis found that 17 percent of illegal immigrant households used SNAP.
In addition to food programs, 18 percent of illegal immigrant households were enrolled in one of the cash programs; 4 percent were using a housing program; and 39 percent used Medicaid.
Illegal immigrants often receive welfare on behalf of U.S.-born children, and illegal immigrant children can receive school lunch/breakfast and WIC directly. Some states provide Medicaid to illegal immigrants, and a few offer SNAP. Several million illegal immigrants also have been issued Social Security numbers allowing them to receive cash payments from the earned income tax credit if they work.
Many immigrants have modest levels of education and low incomes, so suspension of WIC and SNAP will impact a large share of this population. But this situation raises important policy questions, including whether it makes sense to have an immigration system that allows in so many people who turn to taxpayers to support their children.
I wouldn’t doubt I’ve missed some of the finer points; it’s a complex system and it’s hard to get quickly up to speed on it. But birthright citizenship and the fact that many illegal immigrants have citizen children (born here) are the reasons the numbers are so very high, I believe.
The Democrats could end the shutdown any time, but they’d rather sacrifice the SNAP program and blame that on the Republicans.
Today’s news on the benefits:
The Trump administration will provide partial food stamp benefits this month as the government shutdown approaches a record length, officials told a federal judge Monday.
The administration indicated it will not tap other funds to fill the gap, meaning the more than 40 million people enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are set to receive reduced benefits. Administration officials have warned those recalculations could spur significant delays before November payments reach households.
On Friday, two federal judges ruled the Trump administration must empty a multi-billion dollar emergency fund before cutting off SNAP. The administration says the fund has $4.65 billion available for households. …
Democratic-led states, cities and private groups sued the administration last week as it warned that SNAP benefits would expire in November as shutdown negotiations remained at a stalemate.
So two judges have said the administration must cover for the Democrat shutdown, and blue states and cities sued the feds for what the Democrats themselves are doing.
SHUT IT DOWN, ALL OF IT, AND LEAVE IT THAT WAY.
I have a sneaking suspicion that most regular Americans who shop on a budget and mind their pennies when shopping for groceries are as quietly furious about abuse of SNAP/EBT benefits as they are about the damage that floods of illegal aliens have done to their communities. Everyone has stories of seeing people ahead of them in the check-out line with cart-loads of expensive meats, snack foods, prepared meals, gourmet luxuries – paying for it all with food stamps or a SNAP card. Remember that story a couple of years ago (I believe you posted about it, Neo) about that illegal immigrant woman, busted at her OB’s practice because her documentation was so fraudulent? And the story was reported in the media, all about how Poor, Poor Pitiful Pregnant Maria got arrested in her doctor’s waiting room … and the comments on the story absolutely went nuclear with unsympathetic comment. Thousands and thousands of comments, incandescent with fury over how the illegals abused the various systems, and overloaded community hospitals, schools, identity theft, undercutting wages, drove drunk and uninsured … anyway, I’m certain that people are just as mad at the welfare cheats, living large (really, really, really large) on their dime.
My daughter, who was unemployed and with a baby had SNAP benefits for about six months. (She was working on a real estate license, and getting nothing but grief from her ex,) She felt the benefits were really quite awfully generous, but it was a chore, keeping those administering the program locally constantly updated. In the end, it was more trouble than it was worth, and she was soon making enough to get by from real estate anyway. She spent most of it on infant formula and baby food anyway – and my grandson has since grown into liking regular people food.
There are people who defend giving SNAP to people who spend it on illegal drugs on the grounds that we don’t starve children.
Just don’t get me started on the people I saw getting cancer treatment like my wife. They needed an interpreter since they had no English. Yes we had insurance that paid , and that was a scam to. But you can bet the hospital billed the full boat to the government.
Why didn’t those Judges just order Congress to end the shutdown? Are they not Kings? They certainly act the part.
Some of the old information on these assistance programs (20 to 35 years old) are:
1) Many school districts go out of their way to bulk up their school lunch programs because that list of “needy” children is used as a baseline for other school assistance funding. As a result, there is little or no actually screening for need, in many cases.
2) The Earned Income Tax Credit is a novel “right-wing” program to reward people or families that choose to work. However, those immigrants that are eligible (some with fraudulent Soc. Security numbers) can collect EITC on dependents that don’t even live in the US. If they declare dependents in Mexico City, nobody checks. The dollar numbers for non-citizens are quite large.
EITC also suffers from rather simple gaming of the system. If a person is involved in work that often involves cash payments, then the worker can frequently choose how much cash comes in over the table and how much under the table. He or she can maximize EITC payments by underreporting income.
I don’t know how much of this has changed in recent years, but I tend to think that these things only get worse, almost never better.
I am reminded of the well-publicized efforts of public officials to live on a SNAP/food stamp budget. They invariably claim it is very difficult. Yes, it is difficult if you don’t prepare your own food. Here is what former Congresscritter Barbara Lee, now mayor of Oakland had to say in 2013.
Join Members of Congress, Take the #SNAPChallenge (June 12,2013)
It’s not rocket science. It’s common sense. Mothers have been doing it for thousands of years.
It would be a lot cheaper to buy a five-pound bag of flour and bake your own bread. For those who claim they don’t have the time to prepare their own bread, I suggest a bread machine. It takes several minutes to load it up. I purchased a bread machine for $10 at a yard sale.
Carrots and onions are out of her price range? Tell me another one. If she purchased by the week instead of by the day—such as a gallon of milk, several pounds of dried pinto beans, a five pound bag of flour, or a three pound bag of onions—she could easily eat tasty, nutritious meals with the funding SNAP provides. But she would have to do her own cooking. The horror!
There are probably lots of reasons why this won’t work, but :
1. Take the CR that the Republicans have already submitted, and extract everything except SNAP – IOW write a bill that funds SNAP and nothing else.
2. Submit it to the Dems and see what they do; if they accept it they lose a talking point, if they reject it then they become responsible for all the hardships that they’ve been complaining about.
I’m considering buying a couple cans of pork & beans to mail to my senators.
Neo wrote, “However, although some are valid asylum-seekers, some are not.”
In 2003 at a Claremont Institute conference on immigration and assimilation (held at Chapman College in Orange, CA) I was introduced to Temple U. law professor Jan Ting. Upon learning that Ting had been the Assistant Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service [INS] under the first Pres. Bush, I asked him “Is it true what I’ve heard, that 90% of refugee and asylum claims are fraudulent?” Without missing a beat, Ting replied, “95%.”
Or as Ann Coulter has written, with our refugee and asylum arrangements, we get the good liars.
If an honest, non-partisan study was conducted – DOGE like – about the SNAP program, I would not be surprised if about 50 % of SNAP recipients would be shown to be ineligible.
The problem with federal programs is that they get so large – covering many millions of people – it is simply impossible to maintain effective oversight of any of these programs.
And if one is an employee within, say, the SNAP program, it’s much easier and hassle free for the employee to grant benefits to anybody that applies.
A friend of mine, now retired, used to work for the USPS in Queens, NY delivering mail. He would finish his actual, real time sorting mail and walking/delivering mail route in about 3 to 4 hours, and then find a secluded park bench and take a nap until it was time to clock out.
Basically, he slept 50% of the time while at “work.”
This went on for years.
Once a year or so a USPS inspector would accompany him on his route to see if it should be modified. My pal would simply walk and deliver the mail in super slow motion and make it appear his sorting mail and walking / delivering mail time really took 8 hours.
The inspector KNEW this, but to avoid a hassle, paperwork , and a pain in the ass appeal process, the inspector just went along with this ruse.
On weekend days during the summer time, I would meet my mailman pal during his work hours at 7AM at a predetermined location, and off we would go to the beach.
How did he get away with leaving work at 7AM?
He would have a co-worker clock him out at the correct time.
So who delivered his mail?
HE DID; that is my pal did .
How?
He would just walk his route at a very quick pace and have all his mail delivered before 7AM.
Not saying all federal (or state or city) employees just want their paycheck while doing the absolute minimum ( or less) , but it sure does make it easier on them and on their bosses.
What the Democrats considered an asset (SNAP) will come back and doom them, win or lose.