Trump administration officials have refused to delay a planned food benefit cut despite the burgeoning coronavirus outbreak, the Huffington Post reported.
In April, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is set to tighten rules for unemployed adults who don’t have minor children or disabilities, a policy that will shrink food benefit enrollment by 700,000, or about 2% annually.
Democrats are planning to vote Thursday on an economic stimulus bill that includes a provision suspending so-called “work requirements” in the food stamps program now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. With GOP opposition to other parts of the bill, it’s not clear if the legislation can clear the Senate, the news outlet reported.
Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Ga., has called the impending food benefit cut “particularly cruel” in light of the coronavirus outbreak that could sideline workers who get laid off or avoid work to limit their exposure to the virus.
But Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue declined to postpone the rule.
“Obviously if your job says you can’t come to work or you’re sick in that way, that good cause would eliminate need for work requirements under this rule,” Perdue has said, HuffPost reported. “That will be under the discretion of the states to determine that good cause.”
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.