Parents of 200,000 Florida school children improve their lives
Bottom Line: Months ago, I predicted it. Earlier this week I saw it. News media spinning the improved fortunes of millions of American families and thousands of Floridians into a negative hit piece on the Trump administration. Like well instructed lemmings the news headline “Nearly 200,000 Florida students could lose free school lunch under rule changes” was regurgitated across the state. Don’t believe me? Search for that headline and count how many news outlets used the narrative.
To me one of the greatest American success stories is that of families existing poverty, no longer needing the safety nets afforded by the generosity of other Americans who’re more fortunate. Government assistance programs, like SNAP, are designed to be safety nets for those truly in need until people can provide for themselves. Thankfully, in the greatest economy in American history, hundreds of thousands of Floridians and millions of Americans have improved their quality of life to the point to which they no longer qualify for certain federal assistance programs. To me this is cause for celebration. To the American left, I’ll refer you back to their headline.
During the Great Recession, federal regulations were relaxed on government assistance programs. One of those relaxed rules kicked federal assistance oversight to state agencies in an effort to on board as many Americans as possible. If you can remember back far enough you may even recall commercials airing encouraging people to inquire about receiving government benefits like SNAP. During that time several states had agencies that aggressively applied new standards to qualify as many families as possible. Florida’s Department of Child and Family Services was among the most aggressive in the country. DCF in Florida, and across the country, often chose to omit income received from other government assistance programs like welfare and housing, as part of a family’s income. The result was the addition of millions of families to government programs that technically shouldn’t have been eligible in the first place. In Florida, families with income that’s two times the poverty level have still be receiving these benefits. In June, the Trump administration announced that they’d enforce the true income of households to determine eligibility. With the new rule set to kick in, an estimated 328,000 families will see SNAP eligibility end. This includes fully subsidized lunch for the estimated 200,000 school children.
Prior to this change taking place 262,903 Florida families had already dropped off of SNAP assistance in 2019 because of improved income. This is something that should be celebrated – not politicized. There’s nothing inherently wrong about going back to pre-Great Recession enforcement of government assistance programs at a time with record low unemployment, record high wages and opportunity. There is something inherently wrong, I believe, in attempting to keep capable people reliant on government programs do to one’s political agenda.