Vilsack: Governors have right to increase LIHEAP payments to boost food stamps
February 27, 2014 | 06:24 PM
PHOENIX, Ariz. — Amidst reports that other governors are trying to follow the lead of Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York to increase payments under the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program to stop any farm bill-related cut in food stamp benefits, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said here today that the decision is up to the governors.
“Governors have the right to make decisions on allocating resources” to help their citizens, Vilsack told The Hagstrom Report in a brief interview on the sidelines of a conference here.
Vilsack added that one of the things of which he is the proudest as secretary is that when he took the job, 51 percent of people eligible to get food stamps got them and today 79 to 80 percent get them.
The Agriculture Act of 2014 said that states must make at least a $20 per year payment to a household for the payment to trigger an increase in benefits. Until the farm bill passed, any payment, even as low as 10 cents or $1, would trigger an increased benefit.
The Congressional Budget Office calculated that the states would not increase the payments and that the provision would reduce spending on the food stamp program — formally the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP — by $8.6 billion per year, and that 850,000 households nationwide would see benefits reduced.
Cuomo announced Monday that he would increase the LIHEAP payment in New York, and there have been reports since that fellow Democrat Gov. John Malloy of Connecticut will follow Cuomo’s lead, and that Democratic Govs. Peter Shumlin of Vermont and Deval Patrick of Massachusetts are considering the same action.
Cuomo would spend $6 million to save $457 million per year in benefits for 300,000 households.
Connecticut Office of Policy and Management Secretary Ben Barnes told The Connecticut Mirror that shifting the money would be worth it.
“The governor’s directive to expend $1.4 million in available federal energy assistance funding will preserve approximately $66.6 million annually in SNAP benefits for households in Connecticut,” Barnes said. More than 50,000 Connecticut households would see their benefits reduced if the state did not take the action.
“Governors have the right to make decisions on allocating resources” to help their citizens, Vilsack told The Hagstrom Report in a brief interview on the sidelines of a conference here.
Vilsack added that one of the things of which he is the proudest as secretary is that when he took the job, 51 percent of people eligible to get food stamps got them and today 79 to 80 percent get them.
The Agriculture Act of 2014 said that states must make at least a $20 per year payment to a household for the payment to trigger an increase in benefits. Until the farm bill passed, any payment, even as low as 10 cents or $1, would trigger an increased benefit.
The Congressional Budget Office calculated that the states would not increase the payments and that the provision would reduce spending on the food stamp program — formally the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP — by $8.6 billion per year, and that 850,000 households nationwide would see benefits reduced.
Cuomo announced Monday that he would increase the LIHEAP payment in New York, and there have been reports since that fellow Democrat Gov. John Malloy of Connecticut will follow Cuomo’s lead, and that Democratic Govs. Peter Shumlin of Vermont and Deval Patrick of Massachusetts are considering the same action.
Cuomo would spend $6 million to save $457 million per year in benefits for 300,000 households.
Connecticut Office of Policy and Management Secretary Ben Barnes told The Connecticut Mirror that shifting the money would be worth it.
“The governor’s directive to expend $1.4 million in available federal energy assistance funding will preserve approximately $66.6 million annually in SNAP benefits for households in Connecticut,” Barnes said. More than 50,000 Connecticut households would see their benefits reduced if the state did not take the action.
