WASHINGTON, May 28 (Reuters) - The debt ceiling deal that U.S. President Joe Biden and House Republican Kevin McCarthy agreed over the weekend adds new conditions to food aid that will impact one segment of the U.S. population specifically - GenXers with no dependents.
The deal targets recipients of the Supplementary Nutrition Program, or SNAP, between the ages of 50 and 54, adding new requirements that they work 20 hours a week to receive the aid.
Previously, work requirements to receive SNAP ended at age 50.
After weeks of negotiations, McCarthy and Biden forged a tentative agreement late on Saturday. The deal needs to still pass through the narrowly divided Congress before the Treasury Department runs short of money to cover all its obligations.
People who have dependents, including children under age 18 or elderly people who rely on them, or people with disabilities, are already exempt from these work requirements, and will remain so. The deal also exempts veterans and homeless people.
"The agreement phases in and then sunsets SNAP time limits to people up to age 54, which the president fought hard against," one source briefed on the negotiations said.
Republicans argue that the work requirements encourage people to get back to work.
The U.S.'s approximately 65 million members of Gen X, those born between 1965 and 1980, are sandwiched between Baby Boomers, the generation born after World War II, and millennials.
As a group, they saw their wealth jump during the Trump administration and even during the COVID pandemic.
However, hundreds of thousands of GenXers living below or near the poverty line are likely to be impacted by the new work requirements.
SNAP benefits are available for Americans whose income is less than 130% of the federal poverty line, or about $1,500 a month for a one person household, or $2,000 for a two-person household in many areas.
Before temporary increases during the COVID pandemic that have since been reversed, these benefits averaged about $121 per person per month, or about $4.00 per person per day, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found.
Reporting by Heather Timmons; editing by Diane Craft
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
XymerianMonk on May 30th, 2023 at 04:52 UTC »
When we moved in Texas from San Antonio area to a small middle of no where west Texas town (family of my wife lived there and we got a good deal on a small place), I spent 2 months looking for work. We applied for SNAP and Medicaid for the kids, and then came the work requirement for me. No biggy I'm already looking, but it was a fucking nightmare joke.
First of all they didn't even accept half the online jobs I applied for, through other sites. The next issue was they wanted me to drive to two counties over to the Texas Workforce Commission Center in the actual town nearby, 45min drive 53miles away. Not once a week, but every single day to log into their website for jobs.
It took weeks of playing their games and explaining that this was not feasible as I was working off and on with odd jobs and lawn care, that I had access to the internet at home.
Eventually they explained I shouldn't have even been in their county information and removed me. The SNAP benefits truly helped us a lot at that time but Jesus fucking Christ if they didn't make that shit the absolute worst fucking experience to make us just give the fuck up.
These work requirements aren't going to be anything more than that same nightmare administrative bullshit to push people off.
Also FUCK THE TEXAS Workforce Commission, that shit is a nightmare and quite literally keeps people unemployed with their terrible job searches, terrible employees with 0 understanding of anything. It's just a fucking racket, in my experience in 3 Texas counties it was just the fucking worst, actively working against common sense help.
Beadsidhe on May 30th, 2023 at 03:54 UTC »
My sister is on full disability with medicare and medicaid. They gave her a ‘cost of living raise’ of $100 a month to her disability, that she did not ask for, and then told her she makes $30 a month too much to qualify for medicaid.
The money she will have to pay for the costs medicaid covers will be more than $100 a month.
So much for the cost of living raise.
sandoze on May 29th, 2023 at 21:51 UTC »
I preferred it when people forgot our generation existed.