House Human Services Committee Challenges Corbett Administration's Proposed Food Stamp Assets Test

In a stunning development, on March 15 both majority and minority chairs of the House Human Services Committee signed a letter to Welfare Secretary Gary Alexander questioning the Corbett Administration's proposed reinstatement of asset tests for food stamp recipients (the program is now called Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP).  Their letter highlighted several points of disagreement with the assets test and questioned how many families and seniors would lose needed benefits as a result, the effect on the economy when people lose SNAP's spending power, and generally questioning the gain expected from reimposing the assets compared to the costs.  The letter's concluding two sentences are powerful: "Please think again about moving backwards to reinstate the SNAP asset test.  It does not appear to be good policy for Pennsylvania."