Beginning November 1, 2025 the United States Department of Agriculture will require every state to follow new, stricter “work requirements” for adults on food stamps who aren’t disabled or who don’t have dependents.
Remember, due to the government shutdown most food stamp recipient will not receive SNAP in November…but they’ll still be required to comply with work requirements.
Now it has long been federal – and Missouri – policy that those able to work ought to work if they receive food stamps. Back in the last century, for example, the larger Missouri county Department of Social Services offices (such as the one at 9900 Page in Overland) actually had Missouri Employment Security staff in the building to help applicants find job leads.
The change comes in the greater effort at enforcement and stricter penalties – for recipients and the states!
As we’ve discussed before, the biggest problem with work requirements is processing the paperwork and auditing to insure that they are being met. In Georgia they found they were spending $2.00 on work requirement enforcement for every $1.00 they spent on Medicaid benefits to working folk. In Missouri the typical food stamp benefit is about $6.50 per person per day [www.dss.mo.gov/re 9/25 Monthly Management Report]. How much staff time can the state afford to spend “protecting” that $6.50?
The other big problem here is that the feds and the states have not had time to properly develop federal regulations and state plans for insuring compliance while also protecting due process. A seat of your pants approach could leave thousands without benefits because the rules of the game are not clear and enforceable.
Traditionally, changes like this get suggested for informal feedback, followed by proposed rules and comments then moving on to state-level action plans. That takes months in the best of circumstances.
These changes are being implemented in a matter of a few weeks.
As it stands right now, a worker can do everything right and still lose benefits if the state mishandles their case, or, if information can’t be verified. Of course, no one is talking about using federal or state law to require employers to cooperate.
Let’s not forget the other issue with beginning this charade in November: most qualified recipients, as it stands now, won’t get any November benefits! Politico and others report that “more than 25 states” – including Missouri – will not issue November benefits. When the dust settles I expect that at least 40 states will not issue benefits. Plus, besides benefit money each month Washington also delivers SNAP administrative funds to the states. The shutdown stops those payments too.
On the news today beef farmers were unhappy that the Trump team wants to let a lot of cheap beef into the country from Argentina. Trump claims the American farmers want too much for their product. Standing up for farmers – who overwhelmingly supported Trump’s election – is not on his agenda. Likewise, worrying about working people earning so little that they qualify for food aid is not a GOP thing.
For the farmers and the workers, this is not fair.
Glenn Koenen