Food Stamp Program: FNS Could Improve Guidance and Monitoring to Help Ensure Appropriate Use of Noncash Categorical Eligibility

United States. Government Accountability Office.

United States. Government Accountability Office.

关键词: Government accountability -- United States.;    worker and family assistance;    agriculture and food;    food stamp program;    letter report;   

RP-ID  :  GAO-07-465
RP-ID  :  258246

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal year 2005, the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Stamp Program served over 25 million individuals per month, on average, providing over $28 billion in benefits for the year. To reduce the administrative burden on state agencies, current food stamp regulations allow households that receive or are authorized to receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) noncash services to obtain automatic eligibility for food stamps, known as categorical eligibility. TANF noncash services include any TANF noncash or in-kind benefits, such as child care and transportation aid. Under categorical eligibility, households must apply to determine if they will receive any food stamp benefits. The application process for categorically eligible food stamps is the same as for regular food stamps, except that caseworkers apply the different income and asset limits for the TANF noncash services, or those imposed by the state. Under current food stamp regulations, states must confer categorical eligibility for individuals receiving, or authorized to receive, TANF noncash services that are funded with more than 50 percent federal or state maintenance of effort (MOE) funds and serve certain TANF purposes. In addition, states have the option to confer categorical eligibility using TANF noncash services funded with less than 50 percent federal or state funds. States are required to determine that individuals are eligible for a TANF noncash service and notify them of this determination before conferring categorical eligibility, but individuals are not required to receive these services. USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), which administers the Food Stamp Program, is not required to track how states are implementing categorical eligibility, but it does sporadically collect information from the states on the nature and funding of the services used to confer categorical eligibility. The Administration has proposed eliminating TANF noncash categorical eligibility for food stamps, and the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that about 280,000 participants would no longer be eligible for food stamps in fiscal year 2008 if the proposal is implemented. Also, because food stamp eligibility confers automatic eligibility for other nutrition programs, such as the National School Lunch Program, there is some question as to how the elimination of TANF noncash categorical eligibility would affect the recipients of other nutrition programs. In this context, Congress asked us to review the implementation of TANF noncash categorical eligibility and examine the potential effect of its proposed elimination. Specifically, Congress asked us to answer the following questions: (1) How have states implemented categorical eligibility for TANF noncash recipients? (2) How do the income and asset levels of TANF noncash food stamp recipients compare to those of TANF cash food stamp recipients? (3) What is the potential effect of eliminating TANF noncash categorical eligibility on Food Stamp Program participation, administration, and state administrative costs?"