The Trump administration recently proposed changes to the food stamp program, but omitted the fact they would make half a million children ineligible for free school meals, NBC News reports.
The Department of Agriculture outlined an overhaul of the food stamp program that would reduce the number of Americans that are eligible for those benefits.
"Too often, states have misused this flexibility without restraint," Perdue said last Tuesday in a statement. "That is why we are changing the rules, preventing abuse of a critical safety net system, so those who need food assistance the most are the only ones who receive it."
However, Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., the chair of the House Committee on Education and Labor, notes the proposal neglects to note the USDA estimates more than 500,000 children would lose their eligibility for free school meals. Currently, families receiving food stamps are automatically entered into a program that provides children with free breakfast and lunch at school.
Scott said in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue last Friday the USDA spoke to his office during a phone call last Monday, "your staff stated that the Department's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) estimates that the proposed rule will result in more than 500,000 children losing their automatic eligibility for free school meals. However, when the rule was published in the Federal Register, the Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) did not include discussion of the rule's impact on free school meal eligibility."
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