U.S. agriculture secretary critical of Pa. plan to tie food stamps to assets

The federal official in charge of the U.S. food stamp program said Thursday that Pennsylvania's plan to tie food-stamp benefits to people's assets will save the state nothing and create more problems than it solves.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, in Philadelphia to discuss President Obama's State of the Union message, said the asset test "is not going to save the commonwealth a single dime," and would, in fact, cost the state money to implement.

Mayor Nutter, at a City Hall news conference with Vilsack, was more pointed.

"This is one of the most mean-spirited, asinine proposals to come out of Harrisburg in decades," he said. "I literally cannot understand what problem they are trying to solve."

And to complete the triumvirate of Democrats denouncing the plan, U.S. Rep. Bob Brady (D., Phila.) called it "the dumbest thing I've ever heard of."

The asset test, as described by the Department of Public Welfare, would deny food stamps to senior citizens with $3,250 or more in savings and assets. For people under 60, the figure is $2,000.

Houses and retirement benefits would be exempt from counting as assets. If a person owns a car, that vehicle also would be exempt, but any additional vehicle worth more than $4,650 would be considered a countable asset.

Responding to Vilsack's remarks, Kevin Harley, Gov. Corbett's spokesman, said: "It doesn't surprise me that the man whose president has overseen the greatest increase in food-stamp usage in the history of the United States would be critical of any Republican governor attempting to impose an asset test. Because of President Obama's economic policies, 11.2 million additional Americans have been added to the food-stamp rolls."

Antihunger advocates have said that the number of food-stamp recipients increased because the recession threw people into poverty.

Disputing Vilsack, Harley said it would not cost additional money to administer the program. Union officials who represent the caseworkers who would administer asset tests have said that costs would shoot up.

"The union people are wrong," Harley said.

And although the DPW has set the limit on assets, those may be subject to change, Harley indicated. "The governor has not yet determined the level," he said. It is a sign that Corbett may not agree with the initial DPW plan and may consider raising the limit, antihunger advocates said Thursday.