Georgia reportedly kicks 8000 people off food stamps

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Georgia has reportedly taken thousands of people off food stamps — tagging them as “able bodied” and unemployed — as the Trump administration continues to crack down on the federally-funded program.

Nearly 8,000 residents lost their SNAP benefits between April and October, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That’s a 20-fold increase from last year.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program requires recipients without children over the age of 18 to work at least 20 hours a week or go to school in order to be eligible for food stamps. Georgia officials have been using a new data management system — dubbed the “Georgia Gateway” — to help identify people who don’t qualify.

“We have more data elements available to us with this system than we have had with any of our other eligibility systems,” explained Jon Anderson, of the state’s Division of Family and Children Services, which handles SNAP.

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“We are more confident in the system being able to identify ABAWDs [able-bodied adults without dependents] than we were in earlier systems,” he told AJC.

The Trump administration has been increasing the enforcement of the federal rules governing food stamps as of late. Roughly 71 percent of SNAP recipients are reportedly families with dependent children, and a third have loved ones who are elderly or disabled.

Many of the people who have been labeled ABAWDs, or able-bodied adults without dependents, say they have tried to find work but simply can’t — on account of their being no jobs available in their area.

“People who use SNAP who can work, do work,” said Alex Carmardelle, senior policy analyst at the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. “If you are not working and you are receiving SNAP it’s because of a serious reason.”

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