Dems pursue more SNAP waivers for food assistance

COLUMBUS — Democratic state lawmakers continue to call on Republican Gov. John Kasich to seek federal waivers from work requirements for food assistance for needy residents in struggling Ohio counties and cities.

Rep. Dan Ramos, D-Lorain, announced the latest legislation Tuesday on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, a federal program that provides food for residents earning 130 percent of the federal poverty level or less.

“No person in this land of opportunity should go wanting of this most basic of needs,” Ramos said during a press conference at the Statehouse. “Every advanced society, every philosophy, every major religion espouses the virtue of feeding the hungry, yet today in Ohio we find ourselves picking and choosing who gets assistance.”

More than 1.6 million Ohioans were receiving SNAP benefits as of this past June, according to Benjamin Johnson, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, which administers the program. The average monthly benefit was nearly $130.

Last week, Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan of Youngstown, D-58th, wrote a letter to the governor, asking him to reconsider a waiver for Youngstown, noting the city “has the highest rate of childhood poverty in the state.”