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Mercedes White, via Andrew Henderson for the New York Times
Many families pay for groceries with food stamps.







Wrong to save




The alternative is to spend some of their savings so they can again qualify for SNAP. “It felt like a no-win situation,” Melissa said, “like we were being forced to choose between what is good for our family in the long term and what our kids need right now.” Survival in the short term and financial security in the long term seemed completely at odds.

Melissa and Jimmy's experience is not unique — according to Reid Cramner, a director with the New America Foundation's Asset Building Program — it is how American welfare works. The rules force "families to choose between a small emergency cushion and putting food on the table," he said in a recent statement for the New American Foundation. "We're forcing them to accept long-term poverty in exchange for short-term assistance."

Changing objectives

Prior to 1996, federal social assistance programs like food stamps focused on providing long-term income support to poor Americans. “Essentially, people could be on welfare indefinitely,” Brooks said. “In this context (when the goal of the program is to provide income support), an asset test makes sense,” Brooks added, explaining that it reduces the likelihood that individuals with the resources to support themselves will claim government assistance.

However, the “Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act,” signed by President Bill Clinton in August of 1996, marked a fundamental shift in the American approach to social welfare programs. “The goal of the welfare reform was to move families off government assistance,” Brooks said. “You couldn’t be on welfare forever anymore.”

But when the federal government made these sweeping changes to welfare, the assets test remained in place. The problem with assets tests, however, is that they are “contrary to the goal of getting people off welfare,” according to Brooks. “If a program has the explicit goal of moving people from dependency to self-sufficiency, people need to have an opportunity to build up a safety net before they transition off government assistance.”

The states’ role in welfare

Welfare is federally funded, but it is up to each state to determine how to administer the programs, including SNAP, Medicaid and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Shortly after welfare reform, some states recognized that assets tests didn’t make sense anymore. Since 1996, 35 states eliminated assets tests for SNAP benefits. Five states (Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Texas, Michigan and Idaho) increased the amount of assets beneficiaries can hold from $2,000 to between $5,000 and $25,000. Ten states (including Utah, Wyoming, Virginia and Alaska) use the federal government’s $2,000 assets threshold.

Moving off dependence on government benefits is difficult everywhere, but the challenges are especially formidable in states with strict assets limits. In many circumstances it means that families, like Jimmy and Melissa, are getting pushed out of the nest before they can fly. "These programs are supposed to help people transition out of poverty," said Martha Wunderli, state director of the Utah IDA Network, a program of Fair Credit Foundation that helps low-income, working Utahns build assets and move out of poverty. “Building assets is a big part of getting out of poverty ... and it is not fair to remove benefits that help them get out of poverty before they are ready."

Some states are reluctant to change their policies due to fears people will abuse the system. Brooks notes several states reinstituted assets tests after allegations of lotto winners and wealthy elderly retirees receiving benefits were made public by the press.

Brooks recommends that instead of re-instituting assets tests, governments change the rules about what counts as income. “The situation with the lottery winners could have been avoided if state law considered their winnings income, not assets,” Brooks said.

But not everyone agrees. Some conservative lawmakers want to hold all states to the federal assets limit. For example, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) would like to add a condition to the Farm Bill that would force states to adhere to the federal government's assets test. This could result in millions of people losing benefits, Brooks said, adding that supporters of this policy consider it a way to decrease fraud.

Weeks away from delivering her fifth child, Melissa isn't in a position where she can work. Even after the baby comes she's unsure about whether she will be able to work. The couple's eldest daughter has a rare chromosomal abnormality, which requires extensive medical care and behavioral therapies. Someone needs to be there to take her to these appointments and communicate with the doctors and therapists about her progress. She'd love to take on some part-time work from home, but it will be some time before she's in a position to do that.

Jimmy is looking for better-paying jobs, too. He'd like to apply for the police force in their city, but at this point, his fitness level isn't where it needs to be to meet the requirements. He's working on it, but it will be a few months before he can apply for the police force and several more before he would start working — assuming he gets hired.

As they look at the numbers and their current situation, Jimmy and Melissa feel they don't have much of a choice but to spend some of the money they saved so they can again qualify for SNAP benefits. They would prefer the security and potential for leaving welfare that the savings represented, but as Jimmy puts it, ”When you have kids, you have to put the needs of your family before your pride.”

In an earlier version of this article Ms. Wunderli was inaccurately identified as the state director of the Fair Credit Foundation in Utah. Ms. Wunderli is the state director of the Utah IDA Network. We regret this error.