1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:03,560 Speaker 1: Over the past year, Congress passed one of the biggest 2 00:00:03,560 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: cuts to food assistance in a generation. And what's happened 3 00:00:07,560 --> 00:00:12,639 Speaker 1: since it's been bigger, broader, and harsher than most people realize. 4 00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:15,160 Speaker 1: This is one of the biggest economic stories in the 5 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:19,160 Speaker 1: country right now, and somehow almost nobody's talking about it. 6 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:29,800 Speaker 1: On average, food stamps pay about one hundred and eighty 7 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:33,839 Speaker 1: eight dollars per month. That's six dollars a day for 8 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:39,479 Speaker 1: the typical person, six dollars a day for milk cereal. 9 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:43,720 Speaker 1: Maybe you're trying to afford eggs, rice, peanut butter, it's 10 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:45,919 Speaker 1: six dollars a day. It can help. It's the thing 11 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:48,240 Speaker 1: that lets a parent say yes to fruit this week 12 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:50,960 Speaker 1: instead of no. So hold that number in your head. 13 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:53,479 Speaker 1: A lot of folks who need help. They're just not 14 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:57,160 Speaker 1: getting it. It touches millions of people, and somehow almost 15 00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:00,760 Speaker 1: nobody's talking about it. So that's I'm going to do. 16 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:02,760 Speaker 1: I'm going to tell it to you as a story 17 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 1: in four parts. First, let's explore what food stamps actually 18 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:10,039 Speaker 1: are and who leans on them. Second, let's dig into 19 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:13,840 Speaker 1: how these cuts ended up inside Trump's big twenty twenty 20 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:16,399 Speaker 1: five budget law. The one that he calls the One 21 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:20,800 Speaker 1: Big Beautiful Bill Act. Third, let's explore what the law 22 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:25,640 Speaker 1: actually changed. And Fourth, well, we now know we have 23 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:29,160 Speaker 1: data on what's happened, since we're seeing that the damage 24 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:33,000 Speaker 1: has spread well beyond the people that the original reforms 25 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:37,120 Speaker 1: were supposedly aimed at. I'm justin morphus. I'm an economist, 26 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:40,160 Speaker 1: so I spent a lot of time thinking about numbers 27 00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:42,840 Speaker 1: that have real people behind them. Today, the numbers are 28 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:46,080 Speaker 1: stark enough that I'm going to put the graphs down 29 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:49,960 Speaker 1: and just tell you what's happening. Let's begin. So first, 30 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:56,400 Speaker 1: what is SNAP? SNAP stands for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. 31 00:01:56,600 --> 00:01:58,800 Speaker 1: Many folks still call it food stamps, even though the 32 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:01,680 Speaker 1: benefits are now delivered ill electronically using something like a 33 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:05,200 Speaker 1: debit card rather than using old school stamps. It's the 34 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: United States main program for helping low income folks by groceries. 35 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:13,359 Speaker 1: That last word matters, groceries. I'm not going to say 36 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:15,480 Speaker 1: I invented that word. You know who uses the work. 37 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:19,480 Speaker 1: I started using the work the groceries. But it's about groceries. 38 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:22,840 Speaker 1: It's not about restaurant meals or fancy extras. Just groceries. 39 00:02:22,919 --> 00:02:25,040 Speaker 1: That's all it can be spent on is I said 40 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:26,720 Speaker 1: the average benefit its about one hundred and eighty eight 41 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:30,160 Speaker 1: bucks per person per month, or six bucks a day. Look, 42 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:32,960 Speaker 1: that's not enough to live on, but it's enough to help. 43 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:36,480 Speaker 1: It helps when the paycheck runs out before the month does. 44 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:39,320 Speaker 1: It helps, when wrench to helps, When the power bill 45 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 1: lands the same week as the car needs repair, and 46 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:45,760 Speaker 1: the kids get sick and the hours get cut, something's 47 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:49,320 Speaker 1: got to give. For millions of families, food stamps are 48 00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:53,600 Speaker 1: what makes sure that's something that gives, isn't dinner. So 49 00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:57,800 Speaker 1: who does the program help? Often it's kids and older folks, 50 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:01,079 Speaker 1: people with disabilities, a lot of folks getting assistance, or 51 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 1: workers who were stuck in low paying jobs, and a 52 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:06,239 Speaker 1: lot of single parents trying to keep a household running 53 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:09,880 Speaker 1: on wages that just don't stretch, not to mention childcare. 54 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:12,480 Speaker 1: About a fifth of the people on the program are 55 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:15,520 Speaker 1: over sixty, and about half of all households getting food 56 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:20,360 Speaker 1: stamps include either an older adult or someone with a disability. 57 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:23,720 Speaker 1: I don't know your family, but for a lot of folks, 58 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:26,320 Speaker 1: that could be your mum, your uncle, or your cousin. 59 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:30,040 Speaker 1: That's who this program's for. And that's why there's six 60 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:34,560 Speaker 1: dollars a day. Number matters in Washington. Six bucks might 61 00:03:34,639 --> 00:03:37,920 Speaker 1: sound small, but in a family's kitchen when they're doing 62 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:43,400 Speaker 1: it tough, it doesn't. So now let's pan back, let's 63 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:47,640 Speaker 1: figure out how this program ended up getting cut. In 64 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:50,960 Speaker 1: July twenty twenty five, Congress passed Trump's big budget law, 65 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:54,120 Speaker 1: the one he calls the Big Beautiful Bill, and tucked 66 00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:57,760 Speaker 1: inside it were very large cuts to food stamps. So 67 00:03:57,880 --> 00:04:02,280 Speaker 1: why why go after food assistance? Well, that's because the 68 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:04,240 Speaker 1: bill was trying to do something else at the same time. 69 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:08,360 Speaker 1: It was handing out large tax cuts, especially to rich households. 70 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:11,000 Speaker 1: And to get the whole thing through the Senate, Congress 71 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:15,960 Speaker 1: used a special process called reconciliation. Don't let one of 72 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:18,919 Speaker 1: those parliamentary nerds geek out too much. This is just 73 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:21,920 Speaker 1: the fast track that lets a simple majority pass a 74 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:25,279 Speaker 1: budget bill without having to get sixty votes in the Senate. 75 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:28,400 Speaker 1: Here's why that matters. First of all, you can pass 76 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:31,920 Speaker 1: the thing even without getting extra Democrats aboard, and second, 77 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:35,840 Speaker 1: reconciliations of budget process because of that, the arithmetic has 78 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:37,520 Speaker 1: to work if you want to put more money in 79 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:40,760 Speaker 1: some people's pockets through tax cuts, and you need the 80 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:43,000 Speaker 1: bill to stay inside the budget target, so that means 81 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:45,560 Speaker 1: you need to take money out of someone else's pockets. 82 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:49,599 Speaker 1: That someone else was in part families on food stamps. 83 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:54,600 Speaker 1: The Congressional Budget Office, which is Congress's own non partisans corekeeper, 84 00:04:55,080 --> 00:04:57,440 Speaker 1: they say that the food stamp changes in this low 85 00:04:57,520 --> 00:05:01,159 Speaker 1: cut federal spending by hundreds of billions of dollars over 86 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:04,159 Speaker 1: the next decade. So it's one of the biggest ways 87 00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:07,039 Speaker 1: that this bill made room for everything else that it 88 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:10,320 Speaker 1: wanted to do. And the shape of it, frankly, it's ugly. 89 00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:14,240 Speaker 1: Rich households got tax cuts, poorer households got their food 90 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:18,240 Speaker 1: aids slashed, also their healthcare. If you put all the 91 00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:22,200 Speaker 1: pieces together, this bill was the largest single redistribution from 92 00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:26,120 Speaker 1: Porter Rich in one piece of legislation in American history. 93 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:29,239 Speaker 1: So what actually changed when this new law was passed. Well, 94 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:32,839 Speaker 1: let's start by understanding how the old system went for decades. 95 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:35,520 Speaker 1: The deal was this the federal government, Well, it actually 96 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:38,560 Speaker 1: paid for all of the food stamp benefits, but the 97 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:42,000 Speaker 1: states are in the program, the paperwork, the officers, all 98 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:45,760 Speaker 1: of it. That's blit matted Because when families needed help 99 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:49,560 Speaker 1: buying groceries. Well, the state didn't have to scrape together 100 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:52,680 Speaker 1: the money for the benefits themselves. Washington would effectively pay 101 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:56,480 Speaker 1: the grocery bill. The new law changed that in two ways. First, 102 00:05:56,600 --> 00:06:00,839 Speaker 1: it changed who can get cut off directly. Before this law, 103 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:03,040 Speaker 1: there was already a strict rule for some adults. If 104 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:05,440 Speaker 1: you were in a certain category and you couldn't prove 105 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:08,080 Speaker 1: that you're putting in enough hours at work, you could 106 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:11,160 Speaker 1: only get food stamps for three months out of every 107 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:15,520 Speaker 1: three years. They were pretty restrictive rules, but they only 108 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:17,560 Speaker 1: applied to folks, so you might think at least had 109 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:20,400 Speaker 1: a chance to get by it on their own. Now 110 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:23,120 Speaker 1: this new set of reforms, they took that rule and 111 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:25,159 Speaker 1: they've stretched it and applied it to a bunch of others. 112 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:28,520 Speaker 1: So those same restrictions now cover older adults, folks all 113 00:06:28,520 --> 00:06:31,520 Speaker 1: the way up to age sixty four. It now covers 114 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:34,839 Speaker 1: some parents it's going to struggle with childcare there, and 115 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:38,560 Speaker 1: also caregivers. They've also made it harder for states to 116 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:41,880 Speaker 1: ease up on the rules when jobs were scarce, So 117 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:45,080 Speaker 1: that's the first thing. More people now can be knocked 118 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:48,479 Speaker 1: off food stamps after just three months. So for those 119 00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:51,080 Speaker 1: folks it's now the calendar rather than their need that 120 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:54,960 Speaker 1: determines whether they qualify for assistance. But the second change, 121 00:06:55,320 --> 00:06:58,800 Speaker 1: this one may matter even more. You see, Washington has 122 00:06:58,839 --> 00:07:02,120 Speaker 1: cut in half the share that it pays the states 123 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:05,960 Speaker 1: for actually administering the program, which means states now have 124 00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:08,200 Speaker 1: to pay part of the benefit costs themselves. In the 125 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:11,920 Speaker 1: size of that bill that the states pay it depends 126 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:16,560 Speaker 1: on what's called the payment error rate. Okay, so picture 127 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:20,520 Speaker 1: yourself now running a state food stamp agency. Now you're 128 00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:23,440 Speaker 1: not just trying to help eligible families, you're also trying 129 00:07:23,440 --> 00:07:26,520 Speaker 1: to dodge a future bill from Washington. Well, that's going 130 00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:29,760 Speaker 1: to change how you and your agency behave your response. 131 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:32,480 Speaker 1: It's likely going to mean you're going to impose more paperwork, 132 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:37,200 Speaker 1: require more verification, impose more checks and rechecks. There'll be 133 00:07:37,240 --> 00:07:40,840 Speaker 1: more caution, more delay. The end results basically going to 134 00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:43,800 Speaker 1: make it harder for families to get help without officially 135 00:07:44,760 --> 00:07:46,680 Speaker 1: making it harder to get help. And if you've ever 136 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:48,920 Speaker 1: dealt with one of these systems, you know exactly what 137 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:51,800 Speaker 1: that means. On the ground, more letters that you can't decode, 138 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:54,440 Speaker 1: more time on hold, more trips to the office, more 139 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:57,560 Speaker 1: chances to blow a deadline, loseer document, or just give up. 140 00:07:58,320 --> 00:08:01,840 Speaker 1: A system that was already a hassle and frankly kind 141 00:08:01,880 --> 00:08:06,920 Speaker 1: of humiliating, just got worse. Here's the tweak that really matters. 142 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:11,200 Speaker 1: That new formula that determines how much the states have 143 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:14,840 Speaker 1: to put in well, it turns in part on that 144 00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:17,800 Speaker 1: payment error rate. Now the payment error rate officially, that 145 00:08:17,840 --> 00:08:21,000 Speaker 1: includes both over payments and under payments. So if the 146 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:23,280 Speaker 1: state gives someone too much money, that's an error. If 147 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:25,240 Speaker 1: it gives them too little, that's also an error. But 148 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:27,360 Speaker 1: there's a hole in all of this, and it's a hole. 149 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:31,560 Speaker 1: It boils my blood. You see, if a family gets 150 00:08:31,600 --> 00:08:35,520 Speaker 1: wrongly denied food stamps altogether or wrongly booted off the program, 151 00:08:36,160 --> 00:08:38,680 Speaker 1: that's not counted as an error. It doesn't show up 152 00:08:38,720 --> 00:08:40,200 Speaker 1: in the error rate. I want to say that again, 153 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:43,600 Speaker 1: because it's the whole game. The system will ding the 154 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:47,120 Speaker 1: state for paying the wrong amount, but not for making 155 00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:49,240 Speaker 1: it too hard for eligible folks to get through the 156 00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:53,320 Speaker 1: door in the first place. Wrong amount, that's a mistake. 157 00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:56,959 Speaker 1: Wrong family turned away empty handed. Apparently that's not a mistake. 158 00:08:58,120 --> 00:09:01,640 Speaker 1: That detail really matters for a harsher system. In a 159 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:04,720 Speaker 1: different form of administration. So this law didn't just cut 160 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:07,280 Speaker 1: food aid. It changed the machinery and in a way 161 00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:10,000 Speaker 1: that made food stamps harder to get and easy to lose. 162 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:12,680 Speaker 1: And so what I want to do is help quantify 163 00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:14,439 Speaker 1: that and give you a sense of how that's actually 164 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:16,920 Speaker 1: played out in reality. Here, I'm going to bring in 165 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:19,880 Speaker 1: the folks at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. 166 00:09:20,200 --> 00:09:22,800 Speaker 1: These are one of the sharpest, most careful think tanks 167 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:25,480 Speaker 1: in Washington on their stuff. When I say they're careful, 168 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:28,640 Speaker 1: I'm in it. These folks put footnotes on their footnotes. 169 00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:31,800 Speaker 1: They've been tracking food stamp enrollment month by month, and 170 00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:35,319 Speaker 1: their numbers they're stark. Between the middle of last year 171 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:37,600 Speaker 1: when the law passed and the most recent numbers we have, 172 00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:41,200 Speaker 1: which is from March of this year, more than four 173 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:47,360 Speaker 1: million people lost food assistance, four million, each of them 174 00:09:47,559 --> 00:09:51,920 Speaker 1: losing roughly six dollars a day towards groceries. Let me 175 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:55,280 Speaker 1: make that a bit plainer. The official forecast already expected 176 00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:58,680 Speaker 1: the program to shrink. Everyone knew that, But how this 177 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:02,240 Speaker 1: has played out in practice. The actual drop has been bigger, 178 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:05,800 Speaker 1: and it's landed sooner than the government's own budget scorekeepers. 179 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:09,000 Speaker 1: It penciled in. That tells you something. This wasn't a 180 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:12,080 Speaker 1: small trim around the edges. This was a big, fast, 181 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:15,880 Speaker 1: loss of help. Now you might be wondering, Okay, there's 182 00:10:15,920 --> 00:10:18,120 Speaker 1: fewer people on food stamps. Is that a bad thing? 183 00:10:18,200 --> 00:10:21,360 Speaker 1: Maybe fewer people need the help. Hey, look, fair question. 184 00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:24,800 Speaker 1: But the evidence is that's not what's going on. That's 185 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:27,600 Speaker 1: not what happened at all. We know that because over 186 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:30,960 Speaker 1: this period of time unemployment's been roughly roughly flat. It's 187 00:10:30,960 --> 00:10:33,480 Speaker 1: not like all of a sudden everyone found jobs. And 188 00:10:33,520 --> 00:10:36,760 Speaker 1: the survey data they show that folks are still having 189 00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:39,120 Speaker 1: trouble affording food, and we know that food price has 190 00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:42,200 Speaker 1: been going up. In twenty twenty five, nearly one in 191 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:45,559 Speaker 1: four adults reported not being able to reliably afford enough food. 192 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:48,480 Speaker 1: Among working age adults living with kids, that was closer 193 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:51,360 Speaker 1: to one in three. So the need for help it 194 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:56,839 Speaker 1: didn't disappear. What disappeared was the help itself, and perhaps 195 00:10:56,920 --> 00:11:00,760 Speaker 1: the most important part, the folks who were now being 196 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:03,880 Speaker 1: cut off or booted off or never allowed onto food stamps. 197 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:07,240 Speaker 1: It's a really vulnerable group, and it's much broader than 198 00:11:07,280 --> 00:11:10,080 Speaker 1: the group that was originally intended. So even if you 199 00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:12,000 Speaker 1: like the original pitch for the law, and I'm not 200 00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:14,480 Speaker 1: sure that I do. But even if you thought genuinely 201 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:17,480 Speaker 1: that the tighter rules on a narrower group of working 202 00:11:17,520 --> 00:11:21,320 Speaker 1: age adults was good policy, that's not just what happened. 203 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:24,160 Speaker 1: The number of people and the types of people who 204 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:26,760 Speaker 1: are getting kicked off food stamps, it's not that narrow sliver. 205 00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:30,040 Speaker 1: It's broad. It's messy, and it's harsh. And the clearest 206 00:11:30,040 --> 00:11:31,720 Speaker 1: way to see that is by looking at what's happening 207 00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:35,040 Speaker 1: to kids. There are some states where we can actually 208 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:37,280 Speaker 1: see the number of kids who are getting food stamps, 209 00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:39,560 Speaker 1: and in that set of states, there's about a million 210 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:42,559 Speaker 1: fewer kids getting food stamps by spring of twenty twenty 211 00:11:42,600 --> 00:11:46,000 Speaker 1: six relative to before with the law past. That's only 212 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:47,640 Speaker 1: for the states for which we have data, so we 213 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:50,960 Speaker 1: extrapolate very carefully to the rest of the country. It's 214 00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:54,199 Speaker 1: likely that we're booted more than one and a half 215 00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:59,040 Speaker 1: million kids off food stamps. That's a huge number. And 216 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:01,920 Speaker 1: nobody fueled up on the floor of Congress and said, 217 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:04,240 Speaker 1: our goal here is to take food off the table 218 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:07,120 Speaker 1: for a million and a half children. That was never 219 00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:11,000 Speaker 1: the pitch, but it's what's happening, and it's kind of 220 00:12:11,040 --> 00:12:14,160 Speaker 1: inevitable because once a system gets tighter and slower and 221 00:12:14,200 --> 00:12:18,360 Speaker 1: more suspicious, the folks you keep out of food stamps, 222 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:20,960 Speaker 1: they're not just going to be a little box. It's 223 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:23,760 Speaker 1: going to spread to kids and working families and seniors 224 00:12:24,040 --> 00:12:27,760 Speaker 1: and people with disabilities and households that were already stretched thin. 225 00:12:28,679 --> 00:12:31,719 Speaker 1: So yes, this was a budget cut, but more than that, 226 00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:33,440 Speaker 1: this has turned out to be a redesign of the 227 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:37,560 Speaker 1: whole machine that delivers the help. A system that used 228 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:41,079 Speaker 1: to be about getting food to eligible families is now 229 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:43,959 Speaker 1: under a lot more pressure to screen, to doubt, to delay, 230 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:46,680 Speaker 1: and to deny. If you build a system to be 231 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:50,200 Speaker 1: more suspicious, you get more suspicion. You build it to 232 00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:52,440 Speaker 1: be more cumbersome, and you get more people giving up. 233 00:12:52,960 --> 00:12:54,839 Speaker 1: Build it to be more punishing, and you get more 234 00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:57,920 Speaker 1: people punished. You shouldn't be surprised when a lot more 235 00:12:57,960 --> 00:13:00,880 Speaker 1: people get hurt than the politicians ever up to at 236 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:04,160 Speaker 1: the time. There's a broader lesson here, And there's a 237 00:13:04,200 --> 00:13:06,360 Speaker 1: habit of mine that I want you to take away 238 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:10,000 Speaker 1: when you think about programs like this. When politicians cut 239 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:13,240 Speaker 1: a program, don't just ask how much money they saved. 240 00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:15,240 Speaker 1: That's what you can read in all the budget papers. 241 00:13:15,760 --> 00:13:20,199 Speaker 1: Ask who lost what. In this case, what rich households 242 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:24,000 Speaker 1: got was tax cuts. What millions of poorer households lost 243 00:13:24,720 --> 00:13:28,040 Speaker 1: was a modest but essential food benefit, worth about six 244 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:31,640 Speaker 1: bucks a day in Washington. Six bucks a day. It 245 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:35,640 Speaker 1: sounds small, doesn't go very far. It sounds like nothing, 246 00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:38,600 Speaker 1: but in a kitchen where milk is running low and 247 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:42,320 Speaker 1: the months on over yet it's a lot, and it's 248 00:13:42,360 --> 00:13:49,720 Speaker 1: a lot to do without.