The Holiday Season will be bleaker for thousands of AAPI families because of new rules proposed by the Donald Trump administration that would result in nearly 700,000 people losing access to food benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps.
The proposal is one of three that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued that would collectively result in 3.7 million fewer people receiving critical food assistance on average each month. Additionally, millions more would see reductions in their monthly benefits, including nearly one million students who would lose automatic access to free or reduced-price school meals.
“We oppose these rule changes as they will have far-reaching and painful impacts on the communities of color we serve and represent, specifically those already vulnerable low-income and working families that would be forced to make impossible decisions between putting food on their tables and paying for the other vital necessities of life.,” said the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum.
In a Dec. 9 joint statement with eight other organizations serving minority communities, the APIAHF said the Trump instigated proposal would affect most people of color and students’ free lunch programs.
The irony is that most of SNAP recipients are working individuals who don’t earn enough to pay for groceries, let alone rent, utilities and transportation.
“The timing of these cuts, which will cause many families to go hungry during the holiday season, is especially cruel. In fact, these cuts were previously rejected by Congress during the 2018 Farm Bill reauthorization. The Racial Equity Anchor Organizations call on the Administration to reconsider its position on the rule changes and demand Congress take immediate action,” continued the statement.
Despite assumptions that all Asian Americans are high earners, 12.3 percent of Asian Americans live below the federal poverty level, ranging from 6.8 percent of Filipino Americans to 39.4 percent of Burmese Americans, according to the American Community Survey (ACS). Almost 20 percent of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders live in poverty.
The large wealth gap between Asian American groups shows how the Asian American umbrella includes ethnic groups who vary substantially in economic status, tenure in America, and education levels. Those differences are even more significant when evaluating access to services for communities that need them.
SNAP, the nation’s most effective anti-hunger program, is also an important tool to fight poverty. In 2015 alone, SNAP lifted an estimated 8.4 million people out of poverty. As a result of this rule, people of color will bear a disproportionate burden of lost benefits due to higher unemployment rates and ongoing structural racism of labor markets. Among Asian Americans, ethnic groups vary widely in their access to SNAP and other public assistance programs, according to the Urban Institute. Tabulations from the ACS show that in 2015, while some ethnic groups received SNAP at rates as high as 67 percent (Bhutanese), others were severely underrepresented in the SNAP population.
“Although Malaysian Americans had a poverty rate of 25.1 percent, only 3.2 percent of Malaysians received SNAP,” reports the Urban Institute. “Only 2.4 percent of Thai Americans received SNAP while their poverty rate was 16.7 percent, and 3.8 percent of Vietnamese Americans received SNAP while the community’s poverty rate was 15.3 percent. In comparison, 15.5 percent of the US population was in poverty and 13.7 percent received SNAP.”
The Trump administration ignored the 140,000 comments it received in opposition to the rule changes—comments from bipartisan mayors, governors, pediatricians, and other interested parties.
“Government dependency has never been the American dream,” said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue in a press release.
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