September 20, 2019
Program Design Branch, Program Development Division, Food and Nutrition Service United States Department of Agriculture 3101 Park Center Dr., Alexandria, VA 22302
Re: Notice of Proposed Rule Making -- Revision of Categorical Eligibility in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) RIN 0584-AE62
Dear Program Design Branch:
The undersigned lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) and allied organizations urge the USDA to withdraw its proposed rule, Revision of Categorical Eligibility in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). If implemented, the proposed rule would harm millions of low-income Americans, with particularly negative implications for the LGBTQ community.
Since 1996, over forty jurisdictions have implemented a process known as “broad-based categorical eligibility” (BBCE), for households receiving some in-kind services funded through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program. While federal requirements restrict SNAP assistance to households with net incomes under 100% of the federal poverty level (FPL), gross incomes under 130% of the FPL, and in many cases liquid assets below $2,250, the BBCE option gives states flexibility to adjust these thresholds.i Most states have opted to eliminate the asset test and increase the gross income limit (up to 200% of the FPL) for SNAP. In this manner, states can: 1) extend SNAP eligibility to families with gross incomes working their way up the economic ladder but still struggling with high costs for basics, and 2) incentivize families to save by loosening restrictions on assets. Congress has consistently upheld BBCE since its inception, most recently during the 2018 Farm Bill.ii
The proposed rule would greatly undercut the scope of BBCE, effectively sidestepping Congress’ bipartisan efforts to maintain the option. The Department writes that these revisions would: 1) “define ‘benefits’ for categorical eligibility to mean ongoing and substantial benefits” and 2) “limit the types of non-cash TANF benefits conferring categorical eligibility to those that focus on subsidized employment, work supports and childcare.”iii By placing such stringent restrictions on BBCE, these regulations would primarily impact near-poverty households with incomes or assets marginally above the federal eligibility limits.iv
In the preamble to the proposed rule, USDA admitted that its regulatory analysis found that the change would eliminate SNAP benefits for 3.1 million individuals. USDA omitted analysis of the proposed rule’s impact on free school meals, but the proposed rule reportedly would be expected to result in the loss of automatic free school meals for 500,000 children in affected SNAP families.v
While these regulations would harm many groups, the LGBTQ community would be hit especially hard. Same-sex couples are substantially more likely to experience poverty than different-sex couples.vi As a result, LGBTQ households are more likely to experience food insecurity than non-LGBTQ households. According to a 2014 Gallup survey, 27% of LGBTQ adults responded affirmatively when asked if they had experienced food insecurity over the past year versus 17% for non-LGBTQ respondents.vii Such disparities are reflected in rates of SNAP participation: 2017 data from the Center for American Progress indicating that LGBTQ people and their families were 2.3 times more likely to participate in SNAP than were non-LGBTQ people, with 22.7% of their nationally-representative LGBTQ survey respondents reporting using SNAP.viii SNAP participation rates were even more disproportionate among LGBTQ people of color, LGBTQ women, and LGBTQ people with disabilities.ix In light of these statistics, it is clear that these proposed regulations will inflict serious and extensive harms on the LGBTQ community.
In addition to the negative effects of these proposed regulations, we urge the Department to consider the positive impact of BBCE as it currently stands. First, BBCE substantially simplifies the application process. By eliminating or loosening restrictions on assets, households applying for SNAP through BBCE are not subject to bureaucratic, time-consuming, and administratively inefficient asset tests. According to a report from the Department’s Food and Nutrition Service, while eligible households are legally entitled to receive SNAP benefits “within 30 days of application, […] an unacceptably high percentage of applications are not processed timely.”x In the same report, BBCE was identified by the state of New Mexico as a factor in helping speed up their application processing times.xi
Additionally, by simplifying the application process for SNAP benefits, BBCE promotes equal treatment of SNAP beneficiaries by reducing interaction with agency staff, which reduces the opportunity for discrimination against LGBTQ people or other groups. The National Center for Transgender Equality’s 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey found that 17% of respondents whose identity was known by staff at a public assistance or government benefit office reported being “[d]enied equal treatment or service, verbally harassed, or physically attacked” in the office in the past year.xii More generally, a 2017 study by the Center for American Progress found that “25.2 percent of LGBT respondents ha[d] experienced discrimination because of their sexual orientation or gender identity in the past year.”xiii Reducing time spent face-to-face with agency staff reduces the possibility that discrimination could adversely affect LGBTQ applicants.
In contrast, the proposed regulations would impose additional asset tests, increasing administrative burdens on states while also placing extra pressure on families who need their benefits as soon as possible. Furthermore, by unnecessarily complicating the application process for many TANF-assisted families, these regulations would require that LGBTQ individuals have more interaction with agency staff members and, consequently, place them at additional risk of discrimination.
In short, BBCE is an invaluable help to many struggling families, broadening SNAP eligibility requirements while also streamlining the application process. We oppose the Department’s proposed regulatory changes, which would substantially restrict the breadth of BBCE and undercut the benefits of many SNAP-assisted LGBTQ families. We urge the USDA to protect the millions of families, many of them LGBTQ, who would inevitably be harmed by this proposal.
Sincerely AIDS Action Baltimore AIDS Alabama South AIDS Foundation of Chicago Athlete Ally BiNet USA California LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network Cascade AIDS Project CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers Equality California Equality North Carolina EqualityMaine Florida Legal Services, Inc. FreeState Justice GAPIMNY—Empowering Queer & Trans Asian Pacific Islanders GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ Equality Hearts on a Wire Legal Services Staff Association, NOLSW/UAW 2320 Mazzoni Center Meals on Wheels of Central Indiana Moveable Feast Inc. National Association of Social Workers National Center for Lesbian Rights National Equality Action Team (NEAT) National LGBTQ Task Force Oasis Legal Services Positive Women's Network-USA Pride Action Tank Pride Community Services Organization San Francisco AIDS Foundation Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) Silver State Equality-Nevada Southern AIDS Coalition The Global Justice Institute Treatment Action Group (TAG) Union for Reform Judaism Whitman-Walker Health
i The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): Categorical Eligibility. Congressional Research Service, 4 Jan. 2019, https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42054.pdf ii The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): Categorical Eligibility. Congressional Research Service, 4 Jan. 2019, https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42054.pdf iii Proposed Rule - Revision of Categorical Eligibility in the SNAP. United States Department of Agriculture, 24 July 2019, www.fns.usda.gov/snap/fr-072419. iv Rosenbaum, Dottie. SNAP’s “Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility” Supports Working Families and Those Saving for the Future. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 30 July 2019, https://www.cbpp.org/research/food- assistance/snaps-broad-based-categorical-eligibility-supports-working-families-and. v “Broad-based Categorical Eligibility and School Meals,” FRAC Chat, Food Research & Action Center, 9 August 2019, https://frac.org/blog/broad-based-categorical-eligibility-and-school-meals vi Badgett, M.V. Lee, et al. New Patterns of Poverty in the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Community. Williams Institute, June 2013, https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/LGB-Poverty-Update-Jun-2013.pdf. vii Brown, Taylor N. T., et al. Food Insecurity and SNAP Participation in the LGBT Community. Williams Institute, July 2016, http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/Food-Insecurity-and-SNAP-Participation-in-the- LGBT-Community.pdf. viii Rooney, Caitlin, et al. Protecting Basic Living Standards for LGBTQ People. Center For American Progress, August 2018, https://cdn.americanprogress.org/content/uploads/2018/08/10095627/LGBT-BenefitCuts-report.pdf. ix Ibid. x Timeliness in the SNAP Application Process. Food and Nutrition Service, 2013, https://fns- prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/timeliness_app_process.pdf. xi Ibid. xii James, S.E.. 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey. National Center for Transgender Equality, Dec. 2016, www.transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/Executive%20Summary%20-%20FINAL%201.6.17.pdf. xiii Singh, Sejal, and Laura E. Durso. “Widespread Discrimination Continues to Shape LGBT People's Lives in Both Subtle and Significant Ways.” Center for American Progress, 2 May 2017, www.americanprogress.org/issues/lgbt/news/2017/05/02/429529/widespread-discrimination-continues-shape-lgbt- peoples-lives-subtle-significant-ways/.