December 11 , 2002

Bad Bills on the Move This Week

In this Living Income Update:   
          • NC Waiver from Food Stamp Time Limit in Some Counties

             • TANF Continued Until March 31, 2003
       

NORTH CAROLINA RECEIVES FEDERAL WAIVER FROM THREE MONTH FOOD STAMP TIME LIMIT FOR ABLE-BODIED ADULTS WITHOUT DEPENDENTS (ABAWDS) IN SOME HIGH-UNEMPLOYMENT COUNTIES

In November North Carolina received approval for a waiver of the food stamp time limit for eight counties. The food stamp time limit requires able-bodied adults who do not have dependent children to work at least 20 hours per week to get food stamps. These adults can get only 3 months of food stamps out of every 36 months, if they are not working the full amount.

The work requirement can be filled through volunteering, private or public employment, a work program or workfare. States can use wide latitude in defining disability also - it does not have to be the Social Security standard, and can require much less in verification and severity.

Eight Waived Counties
The Waiver allows eight North Carolina counties that have high unemployment or a surplus of labor to provide food stamp benefits to able-bodied adults without dependents regardless of the number of hours they work until October 1, 2003. These individuals must meet all other income and resource requirements of the Food Stamp program to get assistance.

The eight counties are:

Ashe County
Cleveland County
Columbus County
Edgecombe County (less Rocky Mount City)
Robeson County
Rutherford County
Scotland County
Vance County

Not Every Eligible County is Waived
The bad news is that at least 48 additional counties and 19 cities in NC would qualify for this waiver but the state or the counties themselves chose not to apply for those areas. This mean thousands of adults who are unemployed or working less than 20 hours per week in NC counties with high unemployment will not be able to get food stamps more than 3 months out of 36.

(TOP)

CONGRESS CONTINUES TANF BLOCK GRANT ANOTHER QUARTER

After the November elections Congress held a lame duck session to try to resolve several issues. They managed to pass a homeland security bill, but nothing else. They extended the TANF and Child Care Subsidy Block Grants for another federal fiscal quarter until March 31, 2003. It is expected that the new Congress will take up these two items when they begin in January. If past debates and bill are an indicator, expect very few of the changes we would like to be in any bill under consideration. There still should be efforts to inform Congressional members about the need for more funding for TANF and child care subsidies and to not restrict what counts as a work activity.

To see the Continuing Resolution signed by the President on November 23 , see http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:h.j.res.00124:

(TOP)

Return to Top

CONTACTS & LINKS