How Will Trunps Plan Work for the Low Income Families

A Transportation Security Administration employee stands at a booth to learn about a food stamp program at a nutrient drive at Newark Liberty International Airport, on Jan. 23, 2019, in Newark, Due north.J. A number of new rules and actions proposed by the Trump administration could affect poor or low-income people who utilize authorities rubber net programs. Julio Cortez/AP hide caption

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Julio Cortez/AP

A Transportation Security Assistants employee stands at a berth to larn about a nutrient stamp program at a nutrient drive at Newark Freedom International Airport, on January. 23, 2019, in Newark, Northward.J. A number of new rules and actions proposed by the Trump assistants could bear upon poor or depression-income people who use government safety net programs.

Julio Cortez/AP

Updated Aug. 27, 2019, nine:55 a.chiliad. ET

The Trump administration is moving forward with a moving ridge of new rules and regulations that would brand it more difficult for low-income Americans — particularly those in families that include non-citizens — to get government aid. NPR detailed many of the proposals in June, merely there take been several developments since then.

Most of the proposed changes do non crave congressional action. Only opponents take vowed to fight several of them in court. Democrats in Congress are too trying to prevent the assistants from implementing some of the new rules by cutting off funds.

President Trump has justified his deportment by saying that he wants those receiving government help to go more self-sufficient and to move into the workforce, peculiarly with unemployment at a near-tape depression. He issued an executive order last year calling on all federal agencies to help reduce poverty "by promoting opportunity and economical mobility." He directed agencies to streamline existing welfare programs, strengthen piece of work requirements and make certain that taxpayer money is spent on "those who are truly in demand."

Anti-poverty advocates counter that the proposals would hurt, rather than help, poor Americans. They say it volition make information technology more than hard for those trying to become self-sufficient by denying them food, housing and medical assistance when they need it about. Opponents also argue that some of the changes are intended to restrict legal immigration, something the administration has been unable to do through legislation.

Here'southward the latest on some of the principal proposals:

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Nutrient aid

• The Department of Agriculture has called for stricter enforcement of a requirement that able-bodied adults piece of work, volunteer or get job training for at least 20 hours a week to go along receiving  Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme benefits, or food stamps, afterward three months. Currently, most states waive the requirement. The administration would make that more difficult to do. Critics judge that 750,000 SNAP recipients would likely accept their benefits cut off because they would exist unable to find jobs or otherwise meet the requirements. The public comment catamenia on the proposal concluded April 10 and attracted more than 100,000 comments, overwhelmingly negative. Information technology's unclear when a terminal dominion will be issued.

• The Department of Agriculture has proposed making information technology harder for individuals to qualify for both SNAP and other welfare assistance, a change that the bureau estimates could cease benefits for some 3 million people. Currently, states have the flexibility to waive asset and income limits for those who get both food stamps and benefits under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Anti-poverty advocates contend that the proposed change would penalize working poor families by taking abroad their food aid simply as they commencement earning enough to pay for other living expenses, such as kid care and housing. Merely supporters of the proposal say states are exploiting a loophole in the law to requite assistance to those who would otherwise exist ineligible and that wastes taxpayer funds. The public annotate period ends Sept. 23.

Payday loans

• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed rescinding an Obama-era regulation that would crave payday lenders to determine whether a borrower has the ability to repay the loan. That regulation, which the Trump administration has delayed until next yr, was intended to preclude low-income borrowers from becoming saddled with ballooning debt because payday loans tin deport almanac interest rates of 300% or more. Consumer advocates say depression-income individuals oft have to take out new payday loans to pay off earlier ones. The Trump administration argues that rescinding the Obama-era rule will encourage more competition in the manufacture and provide more options for borrowers. The public comment period on the proposed alter closed May xv. It is unclear when a terminal rule will exist issued.

Poverty line

• The Office of Direction and Budget is weighing whether to recalculate the official poverty line using a different aggrandizement measure, 1 that many economists say would paint a more accurate motion-picture show of the cost increases that consumers face. But critics say the change would not reverberate how inflation affects low- and moderate-income individuals and, over fourth dimension, would lead to millions of people seeing their government benefits — such as SNAP, Medicaid, free energy assistance and school lunches — reduced or eliminated. The Obama and George W. Bush-league administrations tried to brand a similar alter in the poverty line calculation with no luck. The public annotate period ended June 21. It'southward unclear what, if whatever action, the administration will accept.

Immigration

• The Department of Homeland Security issued a final rule Aug. 12 making it more than difficult for immigrants to get green cards or extend their visas if information technology appears likely that they volition utilize government benefits, such as SNAP or housing aid. The assistants says information technology is enforcing long-time U.S. law, which seeks to cake immigrants who might become a "public accuse." But immigrants' rights groups argue that the assistants is dramatically reshaping the nation's immigration organization by discouraging  lower-income individuals from coming into the country. Ken Cuccinelli, interim director of U.Due south. Citizenship and Immigration Services, told NPR that the nation still welcomed immigrants, but he suggested that the poem on the base of operations of the Statue of Liberty could be revised to say, "Requite me your tired and your poor who tin stand on their own two feet and who volition not become a public accuse." The new rule, which is set to go into effect Oct. 15, was immediately challenged in court by multiple advocacy groups and more than a dozen states.  They argue that the change threatens public wellness because information technology will discourage immigrant families from seeking medical assist, even for their citizen children.  Social service providers around the country study that they have seen a big drop in immigrant families signing upwardly for assistance, including Medicaid and SNAP, because of fears that it could affect their status.  Information technology is unclear what the outcome of the legal challenges will be.

• President Trump signed a memorandum May 23 calling on federal agencies to enforce a law requiring those who sponsor green card holders to reimburse regime agencies for the cost of any public benefits used by the immigrant. The administration says the law has non been fully enforced. "To protect benefits for American citizens, immigrants must be financially self-sufficient," Trump said in a statement announcing the motility. Immigrants' rights advocates say the announcement is part of a larger campaign by the Trump administration to restrict both legal and illegal immigration. They note that nearly immigrants are banned from getting many regime benefits until they take been in the country for v or more years.

Housing

• The Section of Housing and Urban Evolution has proposed a new rule that would make it more difficult to printing housing bigotry lawsuits nether the Fair Housing Act.  Agency officials say they are trying to clarify the law in response to a contempo Supreme Court ruling and that it volition take no impact on cases involving intentional housing bigotry. But opponents say that the new dominion will brand it harder, if not impossible, to prove that individuals have been unintentionally discriminated against by mortgage lenders and others because of their race, sex activity, disability, religion or other protected class. Fair housing advocates have vowed to fight the proposed rule, which they run into equally part of a broader campaign by the Trump administration to scale dorsum civil rights enforcement.  The public annotate menstruation ends Oct. 18.

• HUD has proposed a rule that would deny housing assistance to families with 1 or more members who are undocumented immigrants. The assistants notes that those in the country illegally are not eligible for housing aid, although HUD now prorates rental assist for "mixed status" families to take that into account.  By HUD's own guess, 55,000 children who are either citizens or legal residents could lose their housing as a result of the move. Critics call the proposal "roughshod" and accept vowed to wage a vigorous entrada to block it. HUD Secretary Ben Carson defended the proposal, saying that "it seems only logical that taxpaying American citizens should be taken care of first" and that the change would provide more assistance for needy Americans. However, HUD'southward own analysis concludes that the rule would pb to fewer people getting housing help and to an increase in homelessness. The House has already voted to deny HUD funds to implement the alter. The Senate has yet to act. It'south unclear when a final rule volition be issued. The public comment flow ended July nine.

• The Agriculture Department is expected to propose a dominion later this yr like to HUD'southward proposal, to restrict the use of rural housing assistance for households that have one or more members who are undocumented immigrants.

• HUD is considering a proposal that would allow the operators of federally funded homeless shelters to decide which services transgender individuals can use. Operators could base of operations their decisions on their religious beliefs, amongst other factors. Critics say that if the rule is adopted, transgender individuals could be kicked out of shelters or forced to utilise ones that serve a gender they do not place with. Details of the rule are expected to be made public afterward this year.  Almost i in five transgender individuals experiences homelessness at some point, co-ordinate to the National Centre for Transgender Equality.

Medicaid work requirement

• The administration canonical waivers last yr allowing eight states to impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients, but legal challenges accept so far blocked such efforts in Kentucky, Arkansas and New Hampshire. The assistants argues that the requirement will encourage people to work, but opponents say it will deny low-income families much-needed medical aid. About 18,000 Arkansas residents lost their Medicaid coverage when the piece of work requirements went into effect in that state concluding year. A federal judge called the administration's efforts in New Hampshire "capricious and arbitrary." The administration is appealing at to the lowest degree ii of the courtroom rulings.

Census citizenship question

• Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross proposed calculation a question to the 2020 demography asking individuals if they are U.Due south. citizens. The administration said that it needed the information to help information technology enforce the Voting Rights Human activity, but ceremonious rights groups argued that the real motive was to diminish minority representation. They said that the question would discourage immigrant households from participating in the decennial count and harm low-income communities. Demography numbers are used to classify hundreds of billions of dollars in federal aid, including many rubber cyberspace benefits. The groups successfully challenged the administration's motility in courtroom. President Trump initially said he would go along to fight to include the question in the census, simply then abruptly abased the endeavor and said the assistants would await for other ways to collect citizenship data.

Overtime pay

• The Department of Labor has proposed increasing the wage level below which workers would automatically exist eligible for overtime pay on time worked over 40 hours a week. The Trump administration would heighten the current $23,660 a year threshold to $35,308, which would make an estimated ane million more workers eligible for overtime. However, this proposal would replace an Obama-era rule that would have increased the level to $47,476 and covered four times as many workers. That program has been blocked in court, in part because of strong opposition from pocket-size businesses, which say it would impose a large fiscal burden. The public comment catamenia on the Trump proposal ended June 12 and the final rule could be released soon. Opponents are expected to challenge information technology in court.

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Source: https://www.npr.org/2019/06/11/730639328/trump-wants-to-limit-aid-for-low-income-americans-a-look-at-his-proposals