Action | Revise Guidelines for Counting Income Toward SNAP Eligibility |
Stage | NOIRA |
Comment Period | Ended on 8/31/2011 |
115 comments
This policy discriminates against US citizens. Example: A household of three with gross income of $2100/month is ineligible for SNAP benefits. A household of two undocumented persons and one US citizen are eligible. Math calc: $2100.00 divided by 3 persons equals $700/per person prorata amount. Therefore the undocumented household would receive benefits based on $700 and would be eligible for benefits for one person.
The gross income screening should be the same for all applicants (except disabled and over age 60).
This policy to prorate the illegal's income needs to change. It is discriminatory to US Citizens. I have had several cases that I have had to approve where there was income that exceeded the income limit but because the income was from an illegal alien, it did not count all the income which made the family eligible, when a family of four US Citizens who actually had less income, were denied benefits because they were over income. So an illegal alien received benefits when a US Citizen who had less income could not. There is no need to prorate a households income. They are all one economic unit no matter if they are all Citizens or not. They all purchase and prepare their meals as a family so the illegal alien is actually receiving, using and benefiting from a program that they are not allowed to receive benefits from. This policy needs to change.
All of an ineligible alien's income should be counted!
Yes, this needs to change. I have always felt this policy was unfair to US citizens.
Please reconsider how you are counting income for citizens versus illegal aliens. I have personally seen the results of both and find it troubling that someone who is in our country illegally can receive benefits for their children and those who are citizens that are not eligible for MANY reasons can not receive the same benefits for their children. I believe this is an oversight that needs to be fixed and can not be something that our "powers that be" are aware of and condone. If we stand on equality, we need to be sure it is what we offer. Thanks for listening.
ALL INCOME FOR THE HOUSEHOLD SHOULD BE COUNTED FOR THE HOUSEHOLD. TO HELP DEFRAY THE DEFICIT FOR THIS COUNTRY, SINCE EVERYONE IS INVITED TO LIVE HERE, THEY SHOULD INCUR SOME OF THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THIS COUNTRY. WE ARE STILL PROVIDING SERVICES TO THEIR FAMILIES AND THEY ARE REAPING ALL BENEFITS AS US CITIZENS.
American citizen families and Alien/citizen families should all have their income counted the same. You have families that are all US citizens being denied for being over the income limit but alien/citizen families are being approved since the income gets prorated. This is unfair to the citizen family that is struggling to make ends meet just like every other family.
I agree the income SHOULD NOT be pro-rated for illegal aliens, it is unfair to Citizen families that actually need the help and are being denied for being over income. For example for a household of 5 the income limit is $2,794.00, I had a case of 5 members 4 of which are illegal and they have a new born baby , their monthy income is $3,468.91 and out of that only $693.78 is countable because their income is pro-rated, which makes them eligible. You take a US Citizen family with the same income and they will be denied for being over income. This is very unfairm don't you think?
This policy should be changed and all household income should be counted the same for citizens/ illegal aliens.
All income should be counted.
I agree ALL income needs to count for all applicants, not just a select population or for certain cases only. Be fair to all clients we serve.
This policy gives benefits to otherwise ineligible households according to the income guidelines. If both illegal and legal status families can apply, both should be treated equally. This policy needs to change!
Policy needs to be changed and all income should be counted for SNAP. Income for illegal's should not be pro-rated but should be counted in full.
The issue at hand is one of fairness to all residents of Virginia. Our agency can provide any number of examples of families (U.S. Citizens) with income LESS than that of a family (Illegal Aliens), with MORE income, and the family witn MORE income is eligible for food stamps.
It is clear that the policy for counting income for Illegal Aliens has been extremely successful. Hard-working illegal aliens living in Virginia can be assured of receiving food stamps, while exceeding the gross income limit for thier true family size. But the same hard-working U.S. citizens of Virginia; earning markedly less than some Illegal Aliens, are at the mercy of local food banks.
The policy needs to be fair to everyone, that's the America way.
This policy needs to be changed. I don't want to take away anything from people that are eligible. I just want to see all people treated the same if income is over it is over no matter. It makes me feel like I am discriminating against our citizens.
The current policy of pro-rating income for aliens is not fair to US citizens who must have their entire income counted, even if they are not part of the case. Policy needs to be fair across the board for all applicants.
The question has always been "why do we prorate?" Always a good question but there has never been a good answer. All households should be treated the same with all income being counted.
Income should be counted the same whether a citizen or non-citizen. As the regulation is written in Virginia, it discriminates against the household that is comprised of all citizens. That is not right nor fair. Other states do not subscribe to this thinking. If the household is over the gross limit for its size, it is ineligible for benefits - proration is not an option. That regulation should be changed.
While all persons who apply for benefits should be treated equally we need to refrain from the "us vs them" mentality. This is not class warfare, but an attempt to make sure everyone is treated equally.
I definitely think that income for ineligible aliens should be counted just as everyone elses income. When it comes to explaining reporting requirements to the ineligible aliens it is very confusing for them and the workers. It's never made sense to me why we prorate it in the first place.
Income should be counted the same for undocumented clients as citizens or legal immigrants
This policy needs to be revised to treat all applicants equally. I have had cases where households with ineligible aliens have received benefits simply because their income was prorated and if it had been counted at the 100% level the household would have been ineligible.
This policy really does need to be changed, it is unfair to citizens to have more of their income counted than that of illegal aliens! Glad this is up for change!
yes, everyone's income needs to be counted.
I feel this policy is discriminating against US Citizens. Income should be counted the same for everyone; and if it is over the gross countable limit so be it.
If the income of other disqualified individuals such as those with felony convictions, intentional program violations, work registration non-compliance, etc is counted in full then the calculations should apply to these disqualified individuals as well. If US citizens that are not compling with the SNAP policies have their full income counted in calculating SNAp benefits then certainly non-US citizens should also have their full income counted .
I believe that their income should count just like anyone elses that is in need of our services.
It was my understanding that we are to treat all applicants with fair and equal treatment and not to discriminate against any because of race, religion, or ethnic background. However, when we prorate income for illegal aliens we are discriminating against American Citizens who have their income counted even though they may not be part of the assistance unit. The policy needs to be changed in order for us to provide fair and equal treatment to all applicants across the board. If we are prorating for one we should be prorating for all or not allowing proration for anyone.
This is a needed change. All of the income of an ineligible immigrant should be counted towards SNAP eligibility determination. Deducting a pro-rata share of income for the individual in question has the net effect of lowering the countable income in the rest of the applying household, which has the unfortunate result of making a potentially ineligible househole eligible. A same-sized household with the same income and no ineligible, disqualified immigrant present could be ineligible because all income has to be counted in that situation.
Their income should be counted in it's entirety toward snap just like a citzen's income is counted.
This policy needs to change to make it more efficient for U.S. Citizens and not Illegal Aliens. The policy should be more geared towards helping families who are citizens or are working on becoming citizens.
All income recieved by the household should be evaluated for benefit eligibility not just a select group.
COUNTING INCOME FOR INELIGIBLES
ALL INCOME FOR THE HOUSEHOLD SHOULD BE COUNTED TO HELP DEFRAY THE DEFICIT FOR THIS COUNTRY, SINCE EVERYONE IS INVITED TO LIVE HERE AND WE ARE PROVIDING SERVICES TO THEIR FAMILIES.
INCOME FOR EVERYONE SHOULD BE CALCULATED THE SAME. THERE SHOULD NOT BE DIFFERENT STANDARDS FOR LEGALS, ILLEGALS, DISABLED, OR AGED. THE UNITED STATES SHOULD BE SETTING THE STANDARD FOR ALL, EQUALITY STARTS IN YOUR OWN BACK YARD.
I would like to say that this is the most unfair thing that I have ever heard of. as a family of 3, one child and 2 adults. my family was recieving 150 a month for food. my husband was making 11.50hr, he got a raise and that put him at 12.18hr, we were deined for making to much money for the SNAP (food stamp) program. I'm going to be appealing the decision and will be looking in to getting a lawyer that will be willing to take this case on....
I strongly believe that this regulation should be supported that calculates income received from Aliens with the same guidelines as income of U. S. citizens. This guidance currently pro-rates the income of Aliens, but calculates the income of Citizens at the gross or net income level contingent upon the type of income that is being received. This guidance affords Aliens the opportuntiny of approval of benefits even in the event that their gross income were to equal that of a Citizen that was denied based on exceeding the income standards; the same amount of income, but handled differently.
We are in support of revising the existing SNAP policy that allows the income to be pro-rated because of non-citizen status. These HH should be treated consistent with policy for citizens. The income should not be pro-rated because of illegal status. Income needs to be counted dollar for dollar, no exceptions.
Count all income in its entirety.
If an illegal immigrant is participating in the Snap assistance unit and is considered a mandatory member of the household composition, then 100% of their income should be counted - there should be no differential treatment based on their immigrant status.
This policy definitely needs to change, It is discriminatory to US Citizens. Everyones income should be counted the same. It is unfair to the citizens of the United States of America that their children can be denied SNAP benefits because of their parents being over income and the parent down the street will be approved for his children even though he is possibly earning more income than the family that was denied.
Times have changed, policy needs to keep up with it..
If we are counting the parents in all SNAP cases as required HH members, then we have to count the income the same. Even those one may be ineligible they are still the parent that purchases and prepares the food for the child and one would assume also eating the meals with the child(ren) - Income under this situation must be counted the same as with our legal eligible HH - who also purchase & prepare for their child(ren).
This policy definately needs to be updated. It seems so unfair to count all of the income of a US citizen but not count all of the income of someone who is not here legally. The income is still available to the household for the purchase of food why should their citizenship play a role in how much income is counted, because there are a good number of cases that would be ineligible for benefits if all of the aliens income was counted.
All alien income should be counted in calcuation of benefits.
The entire income of aliens needs to be counted for the household just like it is for other disqualified people. This policy favors aliens against citizens that are disqualified in the SNAP program and it should not. And we should have any policy that encourages illegal aliens.