WASHINGTON — All year long, Republicans have said they want President Joe Biden to agree to major spending cuts without saying what cuts they want.
In recent days, however, Republicans have signaled plans to cut federal programs that help low-income Americans buy groceries and see doctors.
Representative. Dusty Johnson (RS.D.) on Tuesday introduced legislation that would expand “work requirements” in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, a federal policy often known as food stamps that helps more than 20 million families buy food.
The program already limits benefits to able-bodied adults without dependents who fail to work at least 20 hours a week, although there are a number of exceptions and states often waive this requirement. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, about 13 percent of households served by SNAP had able-bodied adults with no children under 50. About a quarter of these families earned money from work.
Johnson’s proposal would reduce state discretion over eligibility rules and expand the definition of able-bodied adults without dependents to include people in their 50s and 60s; the current limit is 49.
“Work is the best way out of poverty,” Johnson said in a news release. “With more than 11 million job openings, there are plenty of opportunities for SNAP recipients to escape poverty and build a better life.”
The proposal comes as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) looks to Biden over federal spending, with Republicans threatening to block an increase in the federal government’s borrowing limit unless Biden agrees to the cuts. If the government can’t borrow money, it can’t pay its bills. A default on the federal debt could trigger a financial crisis, and Republicans hope the threat will force Biden’s hand.
Johnson is a member of the House Agriculture Committee and plans to incorporate his legislation into a farm bill the committee will draft this year. Congress has a tradition of changing SNAP benefits every five years in tandem with changes to farm subsidies. Republicans typically demand stricter requirements for jobs, but usually don’t get them.
McCarthy won the speakership in part by offering members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, and last week the group filed petitions to fight the debt line, which included job requirements for an untold number of federal programs. The farm bill could be intertwined with the broader spending fight.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) told HuffPost last week that some of his colleagues may not realize that SNAP already has employment requirements.
“There are a small number of people who have suddenly discovered the idea of work requirements for SNAP benefits,” Thompson said. “We’ve had them for decades.”
Thompson noted that a significant number of SNAP recipients work, but suggested he might favor expanding the definition of “working-age adult” to include people in their 50s, somewhat in line with what Johnson proposed .
Increased eligibility for a relatively small number of SNAP recipients would not have a large effect on the federal budget, since the entire SNAP program accounts for about 2 percent of annual U.S. spending. But Republicans left out the biggest programs, namely Social Security and Medicare, so they’ll likely settle for token changes.
Representative. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a senior member of the House Freedom Caucus, said his group also favored work requirements for Medicaid, a program that covers health care for low-income families and, in the past, did not denied benefits to people because they are unemployed. The Donald Trump administration has allowed states to impose work requirements, although most state initiatives have been blocked by federal courts.
Roy said he would defer to McCarthy and Thompson when it came to the details of the current legislation that changes the benefit programs.
“We don’t want to put in front of committees and executives who think we’re pretty sympathetic to most of these things,” he said.
I’m a passionate and motivated journalist with a focus on world news. My experience spans across various media outlets, including Buna Times where I serve as an author. Over the years, I have become well-versed in researching and reporting on global topics, ranging from international politics to current events.