This I Argue
“SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,
is a government assistance program to help low-income households pay for food.
SNAP used to be called the Food Stamp program. The amount of SNAP food stamps a
household gets depends on the household's size, income, and expenses SNAP Food Stamps: What Is the SNAP Food Stamp
Program?”
The guidelines and requirements for
receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) should be individual
not income based. I say this
because not all individual have the same circumstances with the same household
size, income, and expenses.
“Households have to meet income tests unless all members are receiving
TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), SSI (Supplemental Security
Income), or in some places general assistance. Most households must meet both the
gross and net income tests, but a household with an elderly person or a person
who is receiving certain types of disability payments only has to meet the net
income test. Also, households may
have $2,000.00 in countable resources, such as a bank account, or $3,2500.00 in
countable resources if at least one person is age 60 or older, or is
disabled. Up to $4,6500.00 of the
fair market value of one car per adult household member and one car per teen
aged household member if the teenager is using it to go to, look for, or prepare
for work. The resources of people
who get SSI and TANF are not counted Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP) | Food and Nutrition Service.” In order to be eligible for SNAP, it’s
based on your household size and income.
A household with the same size doesn’t mean they have the same
circumstances. For instance, a
single mother with two young children may have different issues than a mother
with teenagers. The age of the
children should be taken in consideration when determining the amount of SNAP
that is available to a household.
When you have young children, the cost of child care outside of the home
is more expensive. So the income
for this family would be different than that of someone who had older children
with the same household size.
Also, when calculating the household’s income
deductions are allowed. The
deductions that are allowed are:
“a twenty percent deduction from earned income, a standard deduction for
$152.00 for households sizes of 1 to 3 people and $163.00 for a household size
of 4 and higher for some larger households, a dependent care deduction when
needed for work, training, or education, medical expenses for elderly or
disabled member that are more than $35.00 for the month if they are not paid by
insurance or someone else, legally owed child support payments, some states
allow homeless households a set amount $143.00 for shelter costs and excess
shelter costs that are more than half of the household’s income after the other
deductions Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP) | Food and Nutrition Service”.
Although these deductions are allowed there are others deduction that aren’t
considered. There’s no mention of
any personal hygiene items, utilities in order to keep warm in the winter or
cool in the summer, and transportation in order to travel to a job.
Why don’t SNAP considered these items as part of an individual
income?
With the above mentioned requirements I can
relate to Barbie in “A
Place at the Table”.
I was in the same situation as her, as far as worrying about how to feed
my children and where our next meal would come from.
As a mother, it is very stressful not knowing how your children will
eat. It is a feeling of
incompleteness and failure. It was
hard. Although, SNAP is a temporary
bandage for the big problem of hunger in America, it is not enough to maintain
food for 30 days. Like, Barbie,
getting a job did not help. Once
you increase your income, your benefits were decrease. It felt like you are in a
no win situation. She tried to get
more sufficient but the income she received from her employment decreased her
SNAP benefits. As I know the more income you make the more bills you can
accumulate. Although SNAP consider
the increase in your income sufficient enough to feed your household really it’s
not. I just want to know what
Americans are going to do to help them with the hunger
problem.
“SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,
is a government assistance program to help low-income households pay for food.
SNAP used to be called the Food Stamp program. The amount of SNAP food stamps a
household gets depends on the household's size, income, and expenses SNAP Food Stamps: What Is the SNAP Food Stamp
Program?”
The guidelines and requirements for
receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) should be individual
not income based. I say this
because not all individual have the same circumstances with the same household
size, income, and expenses.
“Households have to meet income tests unless all members are receiving
TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), SSI (Supplemental Security
Income), or in some places general assistance. Most households must meet both the
gross and net income tests, but a household with an elderly person or a person
who is receiving certain types of disability payments only has to meet the net
income test. Also, households may
have $2,000.00 in countable resources, such as a bank account, or $3,2500.00 in
countable resources if at least one person is age 60 or older, or is
disabled. Up to $4,6500.00 of the
fair market value of one car per adult household member and one car per teen
aged household member if the teenager is using it to go to, look for, or prepare
for work. The resources of people
who get SSI and TANF are not counted Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP) | Food and Nutrition Service.” In order to be eligible for SNAP, it’s
based on your household size and income.
A household with the same size doesn’t mean they have the same
circumstances. For instance, a
single mother with two young children may have different issues than a mother
with teenagers. The age of the
children should be taken in consideration when determining the amount of SNAP
that is available to a household.
When you have young children, the cost of child care outside of the home
is more expensive. So the income
for this family would be different than that of someone who had older children
with the same household size.
Also, when calculating the household’s income
deductions are allowed. The
deductions that are allowed are:
“a twenty percent deduction from earned income, a standard deduction for
$152.00 for households sizes of 1 to 3 people and $163.00 for a household size
of 4 and higher for some larger households, a dependent care deduction when
needed for work, training, or education, medical expenses for elderly or
disabled member that are more than $35.00 for the month if they are not paid by
insurance or someone else, legally owed child support payments, some states
allow homeless households a set amount $143.00 for shelter costs and excess
shelter costs that are more than half of the household’s income after the other
deductions Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP) | Food and Nutrition Service”.
Although these deductions are allowed there are others deduction that aren’t
considered. There’s no mention of
any personal hygiene items, utilities in order to keep warm in the winter or
cool in the summer, and transportation in order to travel to a job.
Why don’t SNAP considered these items as part of an individual
income?
With the above mentioned requirements I can
relate to Barbie in “A
Place at the Table”.
I was in the same situation as her, as far as worrying about how to feed
my children and where our next meal would come from.
As a mother, it is very stressful not knowing how your children will
eat. It is a feeling of
incompleteness and failure. It was
hard. Although, SNAP is a temporary
bandage for the big problem of hunger in America, it is not enough to maintain
food for 30 days. Like, Barbie,
getting a job did not help. Once
you increase your income, your benefits were decrease. It felt like you are in a
no win situation. She tried to get
more sufficient but the income she received from her employment decreased her
SNAP benefits. As I know the more income you make the more bills you can
accumulate. Although SNAP consider
the increase in your income sufficient enough to feed your household really it’s
not. I just want to know what
Americans are going to do to help them with the hunger
problem.