Emails (excerpted), Ed Sills, communications director, Texas AFL-CIO, Jan. 13, 2017

From: Selby, Gardner (CMG-Austin)

The first speaker (did not catch his name) at today’s AFL-CIO press conference said that if you have a family, the existing minimum wage qualifies you for food stamps.

Provide the factual backup on this claim? How did he reach this conclusion?

Thanks,

g.

W. Gardner Selby

Reporter / News

Austin American-Statesman

PolitiFact Texas

4:31 p.m.

Speaker was Texas AFL-CIO President John Patrick.

A full-time minimum wage worker earns $7.25 an hour times 2000 hours for an annual income of approximately $14,500.

Here is the State of Texas link we used to determined qualification for food stamps (actually, it’s officially called SNAP but for rhetorical purposes more people may still think of it as food stamps) in Texas. We looked under “Maximum Monthly Income Limits,” which are substantially higher than the current minimum wage:

https://yourtexasbenefits.hhsc.texas.gov/programs/snap

As I look at it now, we may have actually understated the situation. I think an individual worker making minimum wage would also qualify for SNAP.

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