HARRISBURG — The administration of Gov. Tom Corbett is relaxing the guidelines of an asset test it wants to impose on people seeking food stamps, and now says it wants to set a limit of $5,500 for regular households, and $9,000 for households with a disabled or elderly member.

The Department of Public Welfare said today it submitted the new plan to the federal government. Pennsylvania like most states currently has no asset test, and critics say the new plan could still end up cutting off people who need the help buying food.

The administration’s previous plan set the asset test at what critics said was the most stringent limits allowed by federal law, no more than $2,000 for regular households.

Advocates for the poor had said that level is unusually punitive.