MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WHNT) — Lawmakers are worried about how they’ll pay for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, in Alabama.
President Donald Trump’s tax relief efforts require states to pay more to keep the welfare program going.
Lawmakers said they are looking for revenue sources after holding budget hearings this past week.
At the hearing this week, the Department of Human Resources said the state would have to come up with $208,694,000 in 2028 to keep the SNAP program going. As Nancy Buckner, commissioner of the Department of Human Resources, explained, that would be contingent upon the state’s payment error rate (PER). That is the frequency with which the state overpays or underpays recipients for benefits. If the state can lower the current 8.2% error rate, then the total amount would decrease.
Regardless, Buckner said the state would have to start paying around $35 million in administrative costs.
Sen. Greg Albritton (R-Atmore) said a statewide lottery would likely not cover the cost.
“Well, it would’ve been beneficial. Except for the point that in some of the bills, the money’s been siphoned off to other uses and other resources, and other matters,” he explained. “So, it wouldn’t have helped to a large extent as we think.”
With that money going towards education, Rep. A.J. McCampbell agreed.
“At best, we would’ve been looking at $200 million worth of revenue from lotteries. That would have been after about… three to five years of implementation of it,” McCampbell said.
Regardless of where that money comes from, LaTrell Clifford Wood, hunger policy advocate with Alabama Arise, said one in seven Alabamians are counting on SNAP. As a former recipient, she said families will have to make hard decisions.
“It put a lot of pressure on me as a young person to kind of, make sacrifices,” Wood said. “And I personally am of the school of thoughts that our children in Alabama should have an opportunity to be children because of it.”
That’s why Wood said lawmakers should talk to Congress about changing the requirements. Sen. Albritton reassured that the state is prepared to make adjustments.
“No one needs to go around with their hair on fire. It’s simply a matter of being able to recognize the challenges, and then to deal with them,” Albritton said.
Sen. Albritton said the state will have to be creative, but Alabama will get through it.
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