Free Republic

'It is time for this exemption to end,' said Sen. John Boozman... Able-bodied people without dependents must work 20 hours a week or be in job training to qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). But during the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress suspended the work requirement. Businesses are open again, yet 25 states have not fully reinstated work requirements. Of those, seven states allow work waivers in certain areas of the state. These seven are Colorado, Kentucky, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, and South Dakota. Eighteen states and territories have kept the work waiver across the entire state. They...

Calling it “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion” and contrary to law, 14 states, New York City and Washington, D.C., asked a federal court in a lawsuit Thursday to vacate a final rule that if implemented will cut off nearly 700,000 people from food stamp benefits due to the imposition of stricter requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents.“Plaintiffs respectfully request that this Court vacate the Rule and enjoin its implementation because it is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and otherwise not in accordance with law under the Administrative Procedure…because the Rule was promulgated without observance of procedure required by...

About 50,000 Cook County residents who receive food stamps are going to have to find jobs next year — or risk losing their benefits. Starting Jan. 1, food stamp recipients in Cook County who are able-bodied, under the age of 50 and not living with children or other dependents will be restricted to three months of food assistance in a three-year period unless they work at least 80 hours a month. They can also meet the requirement by participating in a work-related activity, such as job training or volunteering. The vast majority of Illinois’ 1.8 million SNAP recipients — most...

President Donald Trump has an opportunity to do what Congress should be doing, but isn’t: Help Americans who are on food stamps transition to work.The farm bill—which reauthorizes the foods stamp program for five years—would have been a prime opportunity for Congress to enhance work requirements. Under current law, certain work-capable adults must work 20 or more hours per week, participate in a supervised job search or training, or volunteer in their communities in order to receive food stamps.Most food stamp recipients are exempt from these requirements. These include people over 50 years old, the disabled, and minor children and...

The Senate passed the bill Tuesday on an 87-13 vote, although Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy was a no, criticizing the "missed opportunity to reform" the food stamp program. Congress has reached a compromise deal on a new Farm Bill to set agriculture policy for five years, but it won't expand work requirements for food stamps, which had been a priority of U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham of Louisiana and President Donald Trump. The Senate passed the bill Tuesday on an 87-13 vote, although Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy was a no, criticizing the "missed opportunity to reform" the food stamp...

Another 4,109 Medicaid beneficiaries in Arkansas lost their health insurance in October after failing to comply with the program's work requirements for three months, according to the Arkansas Department of Human Services. The health department said 4,353 Medicaid beneficiaries lost their health insurance in September after failing to comply with the regulation. This brings the total number of beneficiaries who have lost coverage to nearly 8,500, according to The Hill. More than 76,000 beneficiaries were subject to the requirement. Work requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries between the ages of 30 and 49 took effect for an initial group of members June...

The Trump administration moved Wednesday to reimpose work requirements for Americans on welfare, revoking an Obama-era policy that had urged states to apply for waivers exempting the poor from having to show they were either getting job training or looking for work. Requiring work was a key part of the 1996 welfare reform law enacted by a GOP-led Congress and signed by then-President Clinton, and Mr. Trump’s move restores the law as written.

Gov.-elect John Bel Edwards intends to remove work requirements that Gov. Bobby Jindal has enacted for more than 60,000 food stamp recipients. Edwards sent a letter Monday to the U.S. Department of Agriculture saying he will seek a federal waiver of the work requirements. The governor-elect says Louisiana's unemployment rate qualifies it to skip the work mandate. He's asking the USDA and the state social services department to stop any interruption of benefits until Edwards can reapply for the waiver that Jindal allowed to expire. The work requirements are supposed to kick in Jan. 1 for adults aged 18 to...

Incentives: A new study shows that in most states welfare programs pay more than a minimum-wage job, and in some states government aid can be more than the earnings from a regular, entry-level job. Back in 1996, a Republican House led by Speaker Newt Gingrich, working with Democratic President Clinton, helped enact genuine welfare reform that included three main elements, the most important of which was the work requirement. Within five years of the law's implementation, stagnant welfare rolls were halved, employment among low-income Americans soared and child poverty rates plummeted. This was after a 1995 study by the Cato...

Three examples. First, on July 12, the Obama administration issued a directive that could result in the removal of the work requirement from the landmark 1996 welfare reform law. The work requirement was the heart of that reform, and removing it would mean, in the words of conservative welfare expert Robert Rector, “the end of welfare reform as we know it.” It will likely also mean more people on welfare, should Barack Obama — who has opposed welfare reform from the very beginning — win a second term. Second, the Obama administration has made a far-reaching effort to increase the...