Pennsylvania to impose asset test for food stamps

[happyslug]

76. $2000 has been the FEDERAL limit for assets since the 1970s

Now the states can use LOWER numbers for Welfare, but NOT Transitional Aid for Needy Families (TANF replaced AFDC in the 1990s). It is the same limit for SSI.

No push to change it at the present time. The last time Congress changed an asset test was in the late 1990s, when it became clear that the original income test that showed that someone was capable of doing full time work was no longer usable (EARNINGS that clearly showed that someone was capable of working, the first of five tests SSA uses when deciding if someone is entitled to Social Security disability).

The old test was a $300-$600 Test. If you earned less than $300 you were NOT earning enough money per month to show you were capable of doing full time work, If you were earning more than $600, that income clearly showed you were capable of full time employment. If the claimant was earning between $300 and $600 that was up to the Administrative Law Judge hearing the Social Security Disability case if the income showed the ability to do full time employment.

Good test when when minimum wage was $1.80 an hour (minimum wage in the early 1970s), $300 meant you had worked at least 150 hours that month or about 40 hours per week, but when minimum wage reached $5.25 per hour (and was LOWER in real terms then $1.80 in 1970 dollars), $300 dollars meant you worked about 60 hours a month or less than 15 hours hours per week.

I remember the 1990s, SSA Administrative Law Judges had by then long used the $600 test, but even they had problems ruling less than 30 hours a week was full time employment. As inflation continued it became clear SOMETHING had to be done. Thus the modern test was adopted, $700 but it is "income indexed" i.e. goes up with inflation. Today it is $1010 (i.e. if you are earning more than $1010 a month, you can NOT be ruled disabled for Social Security purposes). Please note this is EARNINGS, not income.

While Congress did change the income test in the late 1990s, it refused to even address the asset test. The Federal asset test excludes the home a person is living in, household goods, one Automobile and $2000 in other assets. SSI is now $674, thus not severely affecting people on SSI (unlike the old income test that was affecting people's Social Security disability). I do NOT see Congress changing the limit any time soon for there is no push for such a change.

Just pointing out how OLD is the $2000 limit AND what it may take to get it raised.