ANSON COUNTY – Anson County Social Services Director Lula Jackson came before the board on Tuesday, April 21, to discuss the local impact of the H.R.1 bill in Congress, also known as the “Big Beautiful Bill.”
According to Jackson, there are several aspects of the bill that will impact residents in Anson County directly.
“H.R.1 fundamentally alters the SNAP landscape. SNAP is Simplified Nutrition Assistance Program, what we know as Food Stamps. Redefining eligibility standards and allotment amounts, tying payment error rates to shifting of program costs, and transferring significant fiscal risks and liability to state and counties,” said Jackson at the meeting.
In simple terms, residents who receive food stamps will feel the impact. Section 10-101 restricts the reevaluation of the thrifty food plan, which is the unit used to set maximum allotments. This will cause SNAP benefits to decrease over time.
“Impact on the county. It will increase demand on food banks and pantries as households lose or see reduced benefits,” Jackson said. “Reduce SNAP redemption at local retailers. There’s less money on the SNAP benefits, which means there’ll be less money to spend in the county. Potential decrease in national school lunch program enrollments due to loss of direct certification with potential impact on community eligibility provisions. Downstream health costs as reduced food access increases chronic burdens and increased food insecurity.”
On top of this, residents utilizing the LEAP program will also see changes. There are limits to the Heat and Eat Program, which said that people eligible for food stamps were automatically eligible for the Low-income Energy Assistance Program. The nexus has been untied, meaning that just because someone is eligible for food stamps does not mean that they will automatically be eligible for LEAP.
Jackson also discussed how the bill will impact the government directly, particularly about the numbers going into these changes.
Leave a Reply