Some wanting to marry find they’d be barred from a state program

The federal program that funds Minnesota’s Family Investment Program is intended to promote two-parent families, but MFIP actually discourages low-income couples from getting married, Rep. Peggy Flanagan (DFL-St. Louis Park) told the House Health and Human Services Reform Committee Wednesday.

HF1453, sponsored by Rep. Rod Hamilton (R-Mountain Lake), but presented by Flanagan, a co-sponsor, would remove the financial disincentives to marriage, giving newlyweds 18 months to adjust to their new financial situations.

Rep. Peggy Flanagan

The bill was approved as amended and referred to the House Health and Human Services Finance Committee. Its companion, SF1165, sponsored by Sen. Michelle Benson (R-Ham Lake), awaits action by the Senate Human Services Reform Finance and Policy Committee.

MFIP helps families below the federal poverty guideline through work support and temporary cash assistance, which can serve as a lifeline for parents trying to give their children a decent start in life. But a family’s income is adjusted after a marriage, said Anne Krisnik, executive director of the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition, an interfaith public-interest lobby group.

So, for a single mother with two children in January 2017, that guideline would be $20,420. But if she married, that guideline would shift $24,600 for a family of four, meaning if her spouse made any more than $4,180 a year, they could be disqualified from the program, Krisnik said.

“These aren’t families wanting state benefits for luxuries – they are using the funds for things like food, rent and gas money to get to work,” wrote Vance Becker, a North Mankato pastor, in support of the bill.

The bill would let a family remain eligible for MFIP an additional 18 months, unless the parents’ combined incomes exceed 275 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, which is the standard to determine Medicaid eligibility for pregnant women and children, Krisnik said.

HF1453 also doesn’t provide any incentives for marriage, so parents in unhealthy or abusive relationships would not feel pressured to marry for financial reasons. It simply removes the disadvantages, Krisnik said.