{"id":6062,"date":"2021-11-22T09:14:58","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T14:14:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/senatedems.com\/irwin\/?p=6062"},"modified":"2021-11-22T09:14:58","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T14:14:58","slug":"no-one-should-choose-between-food-or-poverty-irwin-proposes-ending-asset-testing-for-food-assistance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/2021\/11\/22\/no-one-should-choose-between-food-or-poverty-irwin-proposes-ending-asset-testing-for-food-assistance\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018No One Should Choose Between Food or Poverty\u2019: Irwin Proposes Ending Asset Testing for Food Assistance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>LANSING, Mich. (Nov. 22, 2021) \u2014 Coinciding with the start of the holiday season, Sen.&nbsp;<strong>Jeff Irwin<\/strong>&nbsp;(D-Ann Arbor) has introduced&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/legislature.mi.gov\/doc.aspx?2021-SB-0725\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Senate Bill 725<\/a>&nbsp;to fight food insecurity by ending asset testing for Michigan\u2019s Food Assistance Program.<br \/><br \/>Under current law, many Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients are forced to jump through several hoops to receive and maintain food assistance benefits, including meeting regular work requirements and being restricted from purchasing specific food \u2014 like hot, ready-made turkeys or mashed potatoes. In addition to these obligations, beneficiaries are subject to a $15,000 asset test requiring that they must not have more than that amount in any account to receive SNAP benefits.<br \/><br \/>\u201cBefore Thanksgiving, we\u2019re probably thinking about having to choose between having one more slice of turkey or another piece of pie,\u201d Sen. Irwin said. \u201cSadly, some of our neighbors are thinking about either putting food on their table or saving money to buy a working car, fix their home, or pay for medication.\u201d<br \/><br \/>Michigan State University\u2019s Fall 2021&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.canr.msu.edu\/news\/latest-msu-food-literacy-and-engagement-poll-reveals-covid-19-has-impacted-food-access-for-nearly-one-third-of-americans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Food Literacy and Engagement Poll<\/a>&nbsp;found that 31% of Americans said the pandemic has affected their ability to obtain food. This included 28% of households earning less than $25,000, and 38% of those earning more than $75,000 annually. Additionally,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.feedingamerica.org\/hunger-in-america\/michigan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">nearly 1.3 million Michiganders<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014 or 1 in 8 people \u2014 are struggling with hunger.<br \/><br \/>Passing SB 725 would ensure that every person in Michigan who needs food assistance, based on federal income eligibility rules, would get the benefits they deserve.<br \/><br \/>\u201cAsset testing for food assistance can lock people into poverty by forcing them to choose between having food or saving money so they won\u2019t need assistance. Denying food assistance for struggling, working class Michiganders increases hunger and hurts our economy,\u201d Sen. Irwin said. \u201cWhat makes this even worse is that Michigan is wasting your state tax dollars on a bureaucracy that exists solely to deny benefits to working people in our state. We need to end asset testing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LANSING, Mich. (Nov. 22, 2021) \u2014 Coinciding with the start of the holiday season, Sen.&nbsp;Jeff Irwin&nbsp;(D-Ann Arbor) has introduced&nbsp;Senate Bill 725&nbsp;to fight food insecurity by ending asset testing for Michigan\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pr"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.4 (Yoast SEO v26.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u2018No One Should Choose Between Food or Poverty\u2019: Irwin Proposes Ending Asset Testing for Food Assistance - Senator Jeff Irwin<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/2021\/11\/22\/no-one-should-choose-between-food-or-poverty-irwin-proposes-ending-asset-testing-for-food-assistance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018No One Should Choose Between Food or Poverty\u2019: Irwin Proposes Ending Asset Testing for Food Assistance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LANSING, Mich. (Nov. 22, 2021) \u2014 Coinciding with the start of the holiday season, Sen.&nbsp;Jeff Irwin&nbsp;(D-Ann Arbor) has introduced&nbsp;Senate Bill 725&nbsp;to fight food insecurity by ending asset testing for Michigan\u2019s [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/2021\/11\/22\/no-one-should-choose-between-food-or-poverty-irwin-proposes-ending-asset-testing-for-food-assistance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Senator Jeff Irwin\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-22T14:14:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/2021\/11\/22\/no-one-should-choose-between-food-or-poverty-irwin-proposes-ending-asset-testing-for-food-assistance\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/2021\/11\/22\/no-one-should-choose-between-food-or-poverty-irwin-proposes-ending-asset-testing-for-food-assistance\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"\u2018No One Should Choose Between Food or Poverty\u2019: Irwin Proposes Ending Asset Testing for Food Assistance\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-22T14:14:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/2021\/11\/22\/no-one-should-choose-between-food-or-poverty-irwin-proposes-ending-asset-testing-for-food-assistance\/\"},\"wordCount\":337,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Press release\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/2021\/11\/22\/no-one-should-choose-between-food-or-poverty-irwin-proposes-ending-asset-testing-for-food-assistance\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/2021\/11\/22\/no-one-should-choose-between-food-or-poverty-irwin-proposes-ending-asset-testing-for-food-assistance\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/2021\/11\/22\/no-one-should-choose-between-food-or-poverty-irwin-proposes-ending-asset-testing-for-food-assistance\/\",\"name\":\"\u2018No One Should Choose Between Food or Poverty\u2019: Irwin Proposes Ending Asset Testing for Food Assistance - 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