Chambers of Commerce Back Public Benefit Bills
Two bills that seek to ease the transition from multiple part-time jobs into full-time employment have received the backing of the chambers of commerce for Nebraska and its two largest cities.
Nebraska Chamber of Commerce & Industry officials, along with the Greater Omaha and Lincoln chambers of commerce, said last Tuesday that they support the bills to prevent those who suddenly – through positive life events like a raise or new job – would no longer qualify for food stamps or child care subsidies from losing all their benefits.
Under current law, recipients of the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program and Nebraska’s child care subsidy lose their benefits as soon as their incomes rise above the federal eligibility limit.
For many recipients, losing benefits means that they will have less money overall to spend even though their paycheck is larger.
Omaha Sen. John McCollister and Lincoln Sen. Kate Bolz introduced LB 255 and LB 1049 respectively, addressing SNAP and the Nebraska child care subsidy respectively. The bills would expand eligibility but reduce the amount received for those above the poverty line as the need for the public support diminishes.
“Employees are offered promotions, pay increases, and additional hours, and some employees are faced with very difficult decisions,” Leslie Andersen, CEO of Bank of Bennington and a Greater Omaha Chamber board member, said in a statement. “Take the promotion, take the pay increase, move from part- to full-time, and lose the assistance that has been helping their families get by.”
McCollister’s LB 255 would raise the gross income limit from 130% to 140% of the federal poverty line, allowing families to continue to be considered eligible for SNAP if they show that expenses, such as child care, would still prevent them from affording food. The net income limits for SNAP, often still called food stamps, would remain unchanged.
Bolz’s LB 1049 expands the income eligibility limits of Nebraska’s child care subsidy by utilizing excess revenues in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families fund. TANF is a federal program that offers a cash benefit that’s often called “welfare.”
“One merit pay increase may inadvertently cause larger financial burdens due to the loss of benefits. Proverbially, two steps forward and three steps back,” Diane Temme Stinton, chief administrative officer of TMCO Inc. and tri-chair of the Lincoln Manufacturing Council, said in a statement. “The workforce is also adversely affected when people opt to leave because of the prohibitive costs of childcare.”
This report contains material from The Associated Press.
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