New Orleans        ACORN has been going through a crash course of sorts to get up to speed on the current procedures around welfare, food stamps, and Medicaid, so that we can understand the real life, on-the-ground impact that the new Trump budget bill will have on restricting access and benefits for lower income recipients.  In doing the research, we’re talking to a number of states to determine how they are handling the system now, including work requirements.  We’ve talked to workers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Arkansas so far, as we try and get a handle on the procedures.

Frankly, a lot of this is a maze where it is hard to find the end of the trail no matter where we start.  At a lot of the levels of the bureaucracy, they just aren’t sure, they’ll get back to us, it’s case by case, there’s no list, there’s no clear set of regulations, and maybe its handled at the discretion of the caseworker.  Ok, now we’re talking to caseworkers, which is less like a walk in a maze and more like a walk on the dark side.

Talking to a county caseworker in Arkansas that Local 100 represents, we got to the bottom line quickly.  She would send us the regulations.  There was a form to fill out.  Then we heard the rest of the story.

Food stamp or SNAP beneficiaries are issued an EBT card, which stands for Electronic Benefits Transfer.  You don’t get stamps, you get an EBT card that is loaded electronically with the level of benefits you and your family qualify to receive.

All good so far, but what if there’s a glitch?  It’s stolen or lost? Or, it’s hacked by criminals?  Stuff happens, obviously.  Until the end of 2024, all states had a procedure for getting a replacement within 30 days.  Looking at a chart of the rules in each state, they were almost mirror images of each other.  That was true it turned out because until 2025, when the Act was due to sunset, the federal government allowed the replacement funds to come out of the federal SNAP allocation.  Now in 2025 under Trump, replacements are up to the states.  California and New York according to the internet continued to make recipients whole.  Many did not, but we don’t yet know how many.

Talking to the caseworker in Arkansas, it turned out we had wandered into a controversy.  Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has refused to allow recipients to be made whole even when there was established proof that the EBT provider had been hacked.  There is one contractor for a number of the states that include Arkansas.  The hacking is mostly occurring to brand-new recipients.  They get a new card and a new number that becomes good at midnight and by the time they check their balances in the morning, the money is gone. The expenditures are tracked to Pennsylvania and New York.  Advice on the state websites to change your pin are superfluous, because often the new pin is hacked as well.  Is it an inside job at the EBT provider?  Who knows?

The only thing that is clear is that the recipient is completely innocent, and the state is deaf to the problem.  Let them eat cake might seem like a bargain in Arkansas, because the governor seems Ok with families eating nothing, as along as the state doesn’t have to make the loss good, despite knowing that the family is blameless.

Talking to the caseworker, they have inundated the governor’s office with information and complaints about the problem, without success.  They have been adamant because they are at the front lines of hungry and desperate families who want them to fix the problem that the governor won’t let them fix.  Things get heated.  In many offices, caseworkers are scared.  Not all the county offices have security, and when they do, not enough to deal with the problem.

It’s not just Arkansas.  Many other states may be equally negligent in allowing criminals to steal from the poor and simply turning a blind eye.  This is a clear case of states refusing to step up after the federal government defaulted to them.  It’s also a case where the federal government, that manages and issues the EBT contracts, also is no longer policing the mess and demanding accountability, because it’s also not costing them any money now.  Every one along the chain can point to someone else, except once again the buck stops at the bare pantry and empty refrigerator of the low income family desperate for that little bit of food support.

This is unconscionable.  It’s enraging.  It’s bad now and going to get worse.