title: IT’S A MIRACLE! Food Stamp Use Went Down 85% After This Change In Requirements
text: Food Stamp use has miraculously gone down in several states! It s a miracle! In 13 Alabama counties, food stamp use went down a whopping 85%!When Obama took out the welfare-to-work requirement, the use of food stamps skyrocketed to nearly 45 million Americans! That s 1 in every 7 US citizens using food stamps! Now that the Trump administration has vowed to reduce the use, it s interesting to see that people jump off of assistance when the work requirement is put back in.Georgia and Alabama have seen a sharp decrease in food stamp use with the work requirement back in:Georgia:More than half of the 11,779 people enrolled for food stamps in 21 counties, an estimated 7,251 people, have dropped out of the food stamp program a drop of 62 percent, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.Georgia first rolled out its work requirements for the food stamp program in three counties in January 2016. Since then, the state has expanded work requirements in an additional 21 counties, giving people in those 21 counties until April 1, 2017 to find a job or lose food stamp benefits. Via: BNALABAMA:Thirteen previously exempted Alabama counties saw an 85 percent drop in food stamp participation after work requirements were put in place on Jan. 1, according to the Alabama Department of Human Resources.The counties   Greene, Hale, Perry, Dallas, Lowndes, Wilcox, Monroe, Conecuh, Clarke, Washington, Choctaw, Sumter and Barbour   had been exempt from a change that limited able-bodied adults without dependents to three months of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits within a three-year time frame unless they were working or participating in an approved training program.During the economic downturn of 2011-2013, several states   including Alabama   waived the SNAP work requirements in response to high unemployment. It was reinstituted for 54 counties on Jan. 1, 2016 and for the remaining 13 on Jan. 1, 2017. As of April 2017, the highest jobless rate among the 13 previously excluded counties was in Wilcox County, which reported a state-high unemployment rate of 11.7 percent, down more than 11 percentage points from the county s jobless rate for the same month of 2011.Ending the exemption has dramatically cut the number of SNAP recipients in the counties.As of Jan. 1, 2017, there were 13,663 able-bodied adults without dependents receiving food stamps statewide. That number dropped to 7,483 by May 1, 2017. Among the 13 counties, there were 5,538 adults ages 18-50 without dependents receiving food stamps as of Jan. 1, 2017. That number dropped to 831   a decline of about 85 percent   by May 1, 2017. Based on the trend, the number of (able-bodied adults without dependents) recipients for SNAP benefits is expected to continue to decline statewide and in the formerly 13 exempted counties,  according to Alabama DHR spokesperson John Hardy.Statewide, the number of able-bodied adults receiving food stamps has fallen by almost 35,000 people since Jan. 1, 2016. Each recipient receives about $126 a month in benefits.Nationwide, there are about 44 million people receiving SNAP benefits at a cost of about $71 billion. The Trump administration has vowed to cut the food stamp rolls over the next decade, including ensuring that able-bodied adults recipients are working.Via: al.com