Implementing the Three-Month Time Limit on SNAP for Unemployed 18- to 49-Year-Olds

Abstract

The 1996 welfare law for the first time imposed a time limit on the eligibility of low-income people for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits even when they are complying with all program requirements. The Congressional Budget Office initially estimated that this provision would cause roughly one million childless people between the ages of 18 and 50 who want to work but cannot find jobs to lose benefits in an average month. Fortunately, even states that strongly support imposing demanding work requirements on recipients recognized the unfairness of cutting off people who are willing to work. As a result, several hundred thousand people were spared arbitrary cut-offs.