ST. PAUL — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan are using the holiday season to call attention to a Trump administration plan to cut hundreds of thousands of Americans from the federal food stamp program.

Walz and Flanagan planned to volunteer Monday at the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center food shelf in St. Paul. They also scheduled a roundtable discussion there on the importance of what’s officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

The Trump administration announced a new rule earlier this month to tighten work requirements for recipients, which would cut about 688,000 people defined as able-bodied adults without dependents. The change would cut an estimated 30,000 Minnesotans. The final rule will take effect in April.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has said the rule will help move people “from welfare to work.”

But advocates for the poor say the change will just force people to rely even more heavily on charity, and won’t make them more self-sufficient.