Food Stamps Designated "Federal Means-Tested Public Benefit"

IMMIGRANTS & PUBLIC BENEFITS

Food and Nutrition Programs

FOOD STAMPS DESIGNATED "FEDERAL MEANS-TESTED PUBLIC BENEFIT"
Immigrants' Rights Update, Vol. 12, No. 5, August 7, 1998

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently published a long-expected notice announcing that the Food Stamp Program is designated a "federal means-tested public benefit" for purposes, under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), of restricting immigrants’ eligibility. The notice also applies the designation to the food assistance block grant programs in Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa.

The notice specifies that all other programs under the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS—see list of programs below) are not federal means-tested public benefits for purposes of the PRWORA. The Food Stamp Program is the fifth program to receive the designation; the benefits previously designated as "federal means-tested" are Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Medicaid, and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Under PRWORA section 402(a)(2)(B)(ii)(I), an immigrant is eligible for food stamps or SSI after obtaining 40 qualifying quarters of coverage (i.e., after paying Social Security taxes for about 10 years, or applying quarters earned by a spouse or parent). However, section 435 prohibits an immigrant from being credited with coverage for any quarter earned after Dec. 31, 1996, during which the person received a federal means-tested public benefit. Most lawful permanent residents were cut from eligibility for food stamps as of Aug. 22, 1997; about one-third of those will have benefits restored on Nov. 1, 1998, due to the recent passage of the Agriculture Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 (S. 1150). Those who did not benefit from this restoration and who may not become eligible for food stamps until 40 quarters are credited to them will now have to subtract any quarters earned between Dec. 31, 1996, and Aug. 22, 1997, during which they received food stamps.

The term "federal means-tested public benefit" appears in three other sections of PRWORA besides the provisions discussed above—sections 403, 421, and 423. Under PRWORA section 403, with some exceptions immigrants who arrive after Aug. 22, 1996, are barred from eligibility for any federal means-tested public benefit for five years from their date of entry.

PRWORA sections 421 and 423 refer to the new affidavit of support, Form I-864, which became effective Dec. 17, 1997. The I-864 is designed to be legally enforceable against the sponsor for reimbursement to any agency that provides a means-tested public benefit to the sponsored immigrant. Section 421 provides for the deeming of a sponsor’s income and resources to the sponsored immigrant, if the immigrant applies for a federal means-tested public benefit while the sponsor’s affidavit of support is effective. Under section 423, any affidavit used to establish that an immigrant will not become a public charge must be one that is enforceable against the sponsor by any agency providing a federal means-tested public benefit to the sponsored immigrant. Finally, section 423(e) requires any agency providing such a benefit to seek reimbursement from the sponsor.

The notice specifically excludes all other programs administered by the FNS from the designation "federal means-tested public benefit." These excepted programs are the following: Food Distribution; School Breakfast Program; National School Lunch Program; Special Milk Program for Children; Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children; Child and Adult Care Food Program; Summer Food Service Program for Children; Nutrition Education and Training Program; Commodity Supplemental Food Program; Nutrition Assistance for Puerto Rico; Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations; Emergency Food Assistance Program (Food Commodities); Nutrition Program for the Elderly; WIC Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program; and the Homeless Children Nutrition Program.

[63 Fed. Reg. 36,653–54 (July 7, 1998).]