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Lawmakers have introduced two bills that raise the age for mandatory participation in the SNAP Employment and Training (E&T) program to 59 and put people in Florida at risk despite the prevalence of hunger among older Floridians.

Congress created the SNAP E&T program to help SNAP participants develop skills to help them get jobs via training, education, or support services. Florida has the choice of weather whether to make SNAP E&T mandatory or voluntary under federal law. The participants will be subjected to sanction if they fail to report that they have approved E&T work for an average of 120 hours each month if the program is made mandatory. It means that SNAP assistance for everyone in the household will be cut off for a minimum of one to six months.

The work requirements of SNAP E&T for many is a failed policy that does nothing other than create unnecessary hardship for people.

The Floridians subjected to mandatory work requirements are more likely to live in poverty than other SNAP participants. Moreover, many workers have unreliable work schedules that keep on fluctuating which in turn makes it difficult for participants to meet 120-hour work requirements.

SNAP participants losing their SNAP assistance will lead to a decline in local economies as well. Besides this, the most important safety net protecting people from food insecurity in Florida is SNAP which is designed as a food assistance program and not a job training program.
Imposing work requirements on older Floridians will cause hardship to people whose food assistance will be cut off as a sanction.

Consequently, expanding E&T is a bad choice that will only cause hardship to participants and cost communities dollars that otherwise would have been spent on food for the needy.