June 25, 2025 • 12 mins
I talk SNAP and Medicaid reform with Ken Smith, Economic Justice Program Director at Nebraska Appleseed.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Scott Vordiez right now, it's my pleasure to welcome on
here the Economic Justice program Director at an organization called
Nebraska Apple Seed, which, according to the website, fights the
toughest systemic issues facing Nebraskans in the community, the courthouse
and the capital, focusing on child welfare, economic inequality, healthcare,
(00:22):
and immigrant communities. Ken Smith is the aforementioned Economic Justice
PD at Nebraska apple Seed and joins us now. Ken,
Good morning, Welcome to News Radio eleven ten kfab.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Good morning, Scott, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Like a lot of people, you guys are not particularly
enamored with some of the plans here in the so
called Big Beautiful Bill to provide some work requirements for
Medicaid that didn't previously exist. The first thing I'm wondering
is is there any way we can agree on a
number of Nebraskans who will be impacted by this. What
(00:57):
is your number of Nebraskans who would be impact to
buy Medicaid cuts.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I don't have the number for Medicaid, although I know
it's a significant number, but we could certainly get back
to you with that number. I'm on our economic justice
team and we are focused on the deep cuts that
are proposed in Congress right now to the SNAP program,
and I do have some numbers for you on how
(01:24):
many Nebraskans might lose vital nutrition assistance if the proposal
that's moving through Congress is advanced, because over one hundred
and fifty thousand Nebraskans benefit from the food assistants provided
through the SNAP program, and that includes over sixty thousand kids,
five thousand veterans, nearly twenty thousand of our seniors. So
(01:49):
I think our focus this morning is on the importance
of preserving the SNAP program and ensuring that these proposed
cuts do not go through.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Sure, it's all somewhat tied in in instances like Medicaid
in some cases the Affordable Care Act and the SNAP program.
The government issues some of these funds back to the states,
and then the state decides how to go about distributing them.
The numbers I've seen here are everything from up to
(02:24):
seventy four thousand Nebraskans losing insurance, which then have an
impact on the SNAP program. That is a number extrapolated
out another ten years or so. I've got an organization
number here saying forty five thousand Nebraskans losing Medicaid, and
Nebraska Appleseed says over one hundred and fifty thousand Nebraskans
(02:45):
could lose food aid. How do we come to that number, Well, we.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Come to that number because what's being proposed in Congress
is a massive cost shift to the state. Like you're
just saying, Scott, the way that SNAP has worked for
decades and worked pretty well, I might add, is that
the benefits are paid by the federal government. The states
are on the hook for a portion of the administrative costs.
(03:13):
Under the proposal, now the states would be on the
hook for a significant amount of dollars that would go
to the benefit itself and would be on the hook
for more of those administrative costs. So you know, states
are going to have to make really hard decisions about
how to continue to fund the program and potentially even
whether to continue to participate in SNAP at all if
(03:37):
it becomes just too expensive. You know, states might be
in a hard spot. So we come to that number
because that's the number of Nebraskans that SNAP currently helps
put food on the table and the number of Nebraskans
that could potentially lose that support.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Let's clarify our terms here. You said that SNAP is
paid by the federal government. Did they do like a
garage sale or a bake sale or a car wash
or something to come up with that.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Money, not to my knowledge the way. I mean, the
federal government established this program decades ago because they realized that,
you know, prioritizing fighting food and security was a good
thing to do and a good investment to make. And
I think that has absolutely been borne out over the
(04:27):
last several decades, where we've seen SNAPPY quite frankly the
most important tool we have to fight systemic hunger across
the United States, and certainly we've seen that in Nebraska.
And I think it's important to point out too that
the effects of SNAP obviously, first and foremost, it goes
to making sure people can put food on the table
when they've fallen on a hard time, but it's also
(04:50):
a significant economic benefit to our state those federal dollars
that are coming in. People go out and they spend
a farmers' markets, they spend it small grocery store, they
spend it small businesses. So you know, we're not just
talking about taking food off the table for families to need.
We're also talking about taking money out of our economy
(05:11):
that you know presents a pretty significant revenue stream for
a lot of small businesses.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Well, I asked that question. I think the implication was,
is this argument comes down to or this debate comes
down to taxpayers to say, oh, I'm working hard, I'm
working two or three jobs. Why are my tax dollars
being eaten up to pay for some guy who can
work but doesn't who's getting whether it's Medicaid or the
Affordable Care Act or SNAP food Aid? Why am I
(05:39):
paying for him when he can work but can't. Because
Republicans say that these cuts are going to put people
who are supposed to be working back to work. We're
going to eliminate illegal immigrants from receiving some of this aid.
Now on the other side, they say, no, these things
aren't happening. We're going to have young mothers who are
(06:00):
trying to care for kids who are going to have
food taken off the table. Congressman Bacon says, quote, no
expectant mothers, single parents, children, disabled, or elderly are losing
SNAP or Medicaid benefits? Is he lying? Is the ignorant?
What what is going on here?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Ken that's simply not true. People will lose SNAP benefits.
And you know, I think it's an important point that
there are existing work requirements in SNAP, and you know,
the I think the effect I think, you know, the
(06:38):
person that you just described is very different from the
from the people that we work with day in and
day out who utilize this program when they've fallen on
hard times. People by and large, who are participating in
SNAP who can work, are working and sometimes are working
two and three jobs, but aren't able to get by
(06:58):
because they're being paid lot ages, because prices are high,
because rent is high, because medication costs are high. There
are there the people are are are trying to climb
out of a bad situation. And SNAP is a program
that people are generally on for about nine months, maybe
to a year is the average duration, and already has
(07:21):
existing work requirements baked in, which I meant at are
state enforces quite rigorously. So the attempt to further you know,
tighten those work requirements to further restrict who get snapped,
you know, by and large, we'll just have a negative
impact on our communities, have a negative impact on the
families who rely on that assistance. Temporarily as they work
(07:42):
out of a tough spot and are just counterproductive policy.
And the notion that the folks that you listed will
not will not, you know, potentially lose SNAP, you know,
as a result of this historic, unprecedented cost shift to
the States, It's simply not true.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
And there's also this unfortunate poverty gap that exists between
those who are working and the boss says, you're doing great,
we'd love to pay you more money, and then the
math is done and that person realizes I'm going to
get paid too much money to get these particular benefits.
I end up losing. It's a net loss for me here,
and that's something I would hope would be addressed. We've
(08:18):
got a couple more minutes with Ken Smith Economic Justice.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Real quick, just on that point. I'm glad you brought
that up. That's called the clip effect. It's the Nebraska legislature,
the very conservative Nebraska legislature just this year passed LB
one ninety two to help address that by slightly raising
the SNAP gross income eligibility, allowing people to make slightly
more at work kind of work their way off of
benefits without having a carpet pulled out from Undom. I'm
(08:43):
just glad you mentioned I just wanted to.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Jump in with very glad to hear that. A couple
more minutes here with the Economic Justice Program director with
Nebraska Appleseed, Ken Smith, with US on news radio eleven
ten kfab should people who are in the country illegally.
I'm not talking about dreamers kids growing up here. I'm
talking about if you just happen to get here through
illegal means and you find your way to Nebraska, should
(09:05):
you be receiving snap benefits?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
The benefit of ensuring that everybody in our community has
something to eat? Uh, you know, I think I think
that's that's what we're focused on. I think that you
find a lot of Nebraskans that would that would agree
that we should extend basic uh you know, basic necessities
to everybody in our community. You know, all of our
hard working friends and neighbors. So I think our position
(09:34):
would be that, you know, we would be supportive of
food assistants going to people who need it.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
You're also going to find some people that say that
taxpayer dollars should not be going to this. Ultimately, someone
has to decide when we have arguments in favor of
those who are in the country illegally getting some of
these taxpayer benefits, or even fighting back when Governor Pillen says,
I don't think you should be able to get po
and candy. That's not a substantive meal. That's not what
(10:03):
food stamps, snap benefits are for. Does it shoot some
holes in the argument when we're finding back against these
key things when we should be, as you said, focusing
on those hard working people who just need a little
bit of a help to get from where they are
to where they want to be.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
That it just seems like the program that you're describing
as the aspirational program is the program we have in place.
It's already effective at doing the things that you just
mentioned and on the pop and soda, you know, implementing
these types of administrative restrictions places a big burden on retailers.
They have to go make all sorts of changes to
then restrict what's on the shelves that people can and
(10:42):
cannot buy. And for what I mean, it's the government,
I mean, we're it's the government telling families what they
can and cannot buy with food with their food assistants.
You know, it just creates more administrative burden than any
benefit that we that we accrue down the road. So
I think there's just a lot of kind of miss
conceptions about how to quote unquote fix a program that,
(11:03):
if you just look at it has an incredible track
record of being very effective, of having almost zero fraud
or abuse, and being a valuable temporary lifeline for families
who need a little help putting food on their table
from month to month. It is. So that's what I
would say is I think the program that you sort
(11:23):
of describe in these aspirational terms, if you really look
under the hood of the SNAP program, that's what we have.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
It's certainly a good debate. You guys have been hosting
the conversations, some town hall type meetings on this. If
people want to learn more information about Nebraska apple Seed,
your stance on these and other issues, where can they
find out more details?
Speaker 2 (11:43):
You can find it on our website n e Appleseed
dot org and we also have our social media's or
on Instagram and Facebook and Nebraska apple Seed. So would
welcome anybody who wants to learn more to connect with us.
Would be happy to talk with you.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Smith is the Economic Justice Program director with Nebraska Appleseed
online at nappleseed dot org. Ken, good conversation. I appreciate
you joining us this morning.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
I appreciate you. Scott, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Scott Boys Mornings nine to eleven, Our News Radio eleven
ten KFAB
Scott Vordiez right now, it's my pleasure to welcome on
here the Economic Justice program Director at an organization called
Nebraska Apple Seed, which, according to the website, fights the
toughest systemic issues facing Nebraskans in the community, the courthouse
and the capital, focusing on child welfare, economic inequality, healthcare,
(00:22):
and immigrant communities. Ken Smith is the aforementioned Economic Justice
PD at Nebraska apple Seed and joins us now. Ken,
Good morning, Welcome to News Radio eleven ten kfab.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Good morning, Scott, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Like a lot of people, you guys are not particularly
enamored with some of the plans here in the so
called Big Beautiful Bill to provide some work requirements for
Medicaid that didn't previously exist. The first thing I'm wondering
is is there any way we can agree on a
number of Nebraskans who will be impacted by this. What
(00:57):
is your number of Nebraskans who would be impact to
buy Medicaid cuts.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I don't have the number for Medicaid, although I know
it's a significant number, but we could certainly get back
to you with that number. I'm on our economic justice
team and we are focused on the deep cuts that
are proposed in Congress right now to the SNAP program,
and I do have some numbers for you on how
(01:24):
many Nebraskans might lose vital nutrition assistance if the proposal
that's moving through Congress is advanced, because over one hundred
and fifty thousand Nebraskans benefit from the food assistants provided
through the SNAP program, and that includes over sixty thousand kids,
five thousand veterans, nearly twenty thousand of our seniors. So
(01:49):
I think our focus this morning is on the importance
of preserving the SNAP program and ensuring that these proposed
cuts do not go through.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Sure, it's all somewhat tied in in instances like Medicaid
in some cases the Affordable Care Act and the SNAP program.
The government issues some of these funds back to the states,
and then the state decides how to go about distributing them.
The numbers I've seen here are everything from up to
(02:24):
seventy four thousand Nebraskans losing insurance, which then have an
impact on the SNAP program. That is a number extrapolated
out another ten years or so. I've got an organization
number here saying forty five thousand Nebraskans losing Medicaid, and
Nebraska Appleseed says over one hundred and fifty thousand Nebraskans
(02:45):
could lose food aid. How do we come to that number, Well, we.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Come to that number because what's being proposed in Congress
is a massive cost shift to the state. Like you're
just saying, Scott, the way that SNAP has worked for
decades and worked pretty well, I might add, is that
the benefits are paid by the federal government. The states
are on the hook for a portion of the administrative costs.
(03:13):
Under the proposal, now the states would be on the
hook for a significant amount of dollars that would go
to the benefit itself and would be on the hook
for more of those administrative costs. So you know, states
are going to have to make really hard decisions about
how to continue to fund the program and potentially even
whether to continue to participate in SNAP at all if
(03:37):
it becomes just too expensive. You know, states might be
in a hard spot. So we come to that number
because that's the number of Nebraskans that SNAP currently helps
put food on the table and the number of Nebraskans
that could potentially lose that support.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Let's clarify our terms here. You said that SNAP is
paid by the federal government. Did they do like a
garage sale or a bake sale or a car wash
or something to come up with that.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Money, not to my knowledge the way. I mean, the
federal government established this program decades ago because they realized that,
you know, prioritizing fighting food and security was a good
thing to do and a good investment to make. And
I think that has absolutely been borne out over the
(04:27):
last several decades, where we've seen SNAPPY quite frankly the
most important tool we have to fight systemic hunger across
the United States, and certainly we've seen that in Nebraska.
And I think it's important to point out too that
the effects of SNAP obviously, first and foremost, it goes
to making sure people can put food on the table
when they've fallen on a hard time, but it's also
(04:50):
a significant economic benefit to our state those federal dollars
that are coming in. People go out and they spend
a farmers' markets, they spend it small grocery store, they
spend it small businesses. So you know, we're not just
talking about taking food off the table for families to need.
We're also talking about taking money out of our economy
(05:11):
that you know presents a pretty significant revenue stream for
a lot of small businesses.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Well, I asked that question. I think the implication was,
is this argument comes down to or this debate comes
down to taxpayers to say, oh, I'm working hard, I'm
working two or three jobs. Why are my tax dollars
being eaten up to pay for some guy who can
work but doesn't who's getting whether it's Medicaid or the
Affordable Care Act or SNAP food Aid? Why am I
(05:39):
paying for him when he can work but can't. Because
Republicans say that these cuts are going to put people
who are supposed to be working back to work. We're
going to eliminate illegal immigrants from receiving some of this aid.
Now on the other side, they say, no, these things
aren't happening. We're going to have young mothers who are
(06:00):
trying to care for kids who are going to have
food taken off the table. Congressman Bacon says, quote, no
expectant mothers, single parents, children, disabled, or elderly are losing
SNAP or Medicaid benefits? Is he lying? Is the ignorant?
What what is going on here?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Ken that's simply not true. People will lose SNAP benefits.
And you know, I think it's an important point that
there are existing work requirements in SNAP, and you know,
the I think the effect I think, you know, the
(06:38):
person that you just described is very different from the
from the people that we work with day in and
day out who utilize this program when they've fallen on
hard times. People by and large, who are participating in
SNAP who can work, are working and sometimes are working
two and three jobs, but aren't able to get by
(06:58):
because they're being paid lot ages, because prices are high,
because rent is high, because medication costs are high. There
are there the people are are are trying to climb
out of a bad situation. And SNAP is a program
that people are generally on for about nine months, maybe
to a year is the average duration, and already has
(07:21):
existing work requirements baked in, which I meant at are
state enforces quite rigorously. So the attempt to further you know,
tighten those work requirements to further restrict who get snapped,
you know, by and large, we'll just have a negative
impact on our communities, have a negative impact on the
families who rely on that assistance. Temporarily as they work
(07:42):
out of a tough spot and are just counterproductive policy.
And the notion that the folks that you listed will
not will not, you know, potentially lose SNAP, you know,
as a result of this historic, unprecedented cost shift to
the States, It's simply not true.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
And there's also this unfortunate poverty gap that exists between
those who are working and the boss says, you're doing great,
we'd love to pay you more money, and then the
math is done and that person realizes I'm going to
get paid too much money to get these particular benefits.
I end up losing. It's a net loss for me here,
and that's something I would hope would be addressed. We've
(08:18):
got a couple more minutes with Ken Smith Economic Justice.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Real quick, just on that point. I'm glad you brought
that up. That's called the clip effect. It's the Nebraska legislature,
the very conservative Nebraska legislature just this year passed LB
one ninety two to help address that by slightly raising
the SNAP gross income eligibility, allowing people to make slightly
more at work kind of work their way off of
benefits without having a carpet pulled out from Undom. I'm
(08:43):
just glad you mentioned I just wanted to.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Jump in with very glad to hear that. A couple
more minutes here with the Economic Justice Program director with
Nebraska Appleseed, Ken Smith, with US on news radio eleven
ten kfab should people who are in the country illegally.
I'm not talking about dreamers kids growing up here. I'm
talking about if you just happen to get here through
illegal means and you find your way to Nebraska, should
(09:05):
you be receiving snap benefits?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
The benefit of ensuring that everybody in our community has
something to eat? Uh, you know, I think I think
that's that's what we're focused on. I think that you
find a lot of Nebraskans that would that would agree
that we should extend basic uh you know, basic necessities
to everybody in our community. You know, all of our
hard working friends and neighbors. So I think our position
(09:34):
would be that, you know, we would be supportive of
food assistants going to people who need it.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
You're also going to find some people that say that
taxpayer dollars should not be going to this. Ultimately, someone
has to decide when we have arguments in favor of
those who are in the country illegally getting some of
these taxpayer benefits, or even fighting back when Governor Pillen says,
I don't think you should be able to get po
and candy. That's not a substantive meal. That's not what
(10:03):
food stamps, snap benefits are for. Does it shoot some
holes in the argument when we're finding back against these
key things when we should be, as you said, focusing
on those hard working people who just need a little
bit of a help to get from where they are
to where they want to be.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
That it just seems like the program that you're describing
as the aspirational program is the program we have in place.
It's already effective at doing the things that you just
mentioned and on the pop and soda, you know, implementing
these types of administrative restrictions places a big burden on retailers.
They have to go make all sorts of changes to
then restrict what's on the shelves that people can and
(10:42):
cannot buy. And for what I mean, it's the government,
I mean, we're it's the government telling families what they
can and cannot buy with food with their food assistants.
You know, it just creates more administrative burden than any
benefit that we that we accrue down the road. So
I think there's just a lot of kind of miss
conceptions about how to quote unquote fix a program that,
(11:03):
if you just look at it has an incredible track
record of being very effective, of having almost zero fraud
or abuse, and being a valuable temporary lifeline for families
who need a little help putting food on their table
from month to month. It is. So that's what I
would say is I think the program that you sort
(11:23):
of describe in these aspirational terms, if you really look
under the hood of the SNAP program, that's what we have.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
It's certainly a good debate. You guys have been hosting
the conversations, some town hall type meetings on this. If
people want to learn more information about Nebraska apple Seed,
your stance on these and other issues, where can they
find out more details?
Speaker 2 (11:43):
You can find it on our website n e Appleseed
dot org and we also have our social media's or
on Instagram and Facebook and Nebraska apple Seed. So would
welcome anybody who wants to learn more to connect with us.
Would be happy to talk with you.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Smith is the Economic Justice Program director with Nebraska Appleseed
online at nappleseed dot org. Ken, good conversation. I appreciate
you joining us this morning.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
I appreciate you. Scott, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Scott Boys Mornings nine to eleven, Our News Radio eleven
ten KFAB
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