Americans under age 65 may have to work to get food stamps: Republican launches bill to enforce tougher job requirements for federal benefits — with 11 million job openings
- The bill would try to prevent states from using exemptions to get around food stamp work requirements
- Currently, SNAP recipients must work part-time from 18-49 or have benefits stopped after three months
- Under the new law, they must work from 18 to 65 years
House Republicans introduced a bill this week that would eliminate loopholes in the work requirements for receiving SNAP benefits and require those using the program to work until age 65.
Current federal law requires able-bodied Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients who have no children and are between the ages of 18 and 49 to work, attend school, or exercise a minimum of 20 hours per week.
Recipients may receive benefits for up to three months every three years unless they meet work requirements.
The bill, led by Rep. Dusty Johnson, RS.D., and co-sponsored by two dozen Republicans, would extend that age and eliminate waivers currently used by 18 states to exempt recipients from work requirements.
“Work is the best way out of poverty,” Johnson said. ‘Work requirements have proven to be effective and people who can work should work. With more than 11 million unfilled jobs, there are plenty of opportunities for SNAP recipients to escape poverty and build a better life.”
The bill, led by Rep. Dusty Johnson, RS.D., and co-sponsored by two dozen Republicans, would extend that age and eliminate waivers currently used by 18 states to exempt recipients from work requirements
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, there were 1.36 million households with able-bodied adults and no dependents receiving SNAP benefits despite reporting zero dollars in gross income. Johnson’s office claimed it was because states are “abusing” the exemption from work requirements.
The US added 311,000 jobs to its payroll in February, beating expectations and the country currently has an unemployment rate of 3.4 percent.
The bill maintains the current law requiring able-bodied adults with no dependents (ABAWDs) to be subject to a three-month limit on SNAP benefits unless they work 80 hours per month.
But the bill would eliminate states’ ability to transfer exemption waivers from year to year. Johnson’s office says this would help “reduce instances of stockpiling and obstruction of law abuse.”
Under the current “robust flexibility” states are allowed to exempt recipients from work requirements, 12 percent of state caseloads are eligible to work bypass in exchange for benefits.
Approximately 42 million Americans benefit from SNAP benefits.
Johnson wants the legislation associated with the must-pass farm bill to require both sides to come together to re-authorize.
Johnson, a member of the Agriculture Committee, relied on food stamps as a child. He told voters in his large South Dakota district on Election Day that his top priorities in Congress would be reforming SNAP and fighting high energy costs.
Approximately 42 million Americans currently benefit from SNAP benefits
“Work is an opportunity. It’s not a punishment,” he said in Sioux Falls, SD
Congress increased SNAP benefits during the pandemic in light of mass layoffs, but those expansions ended in February.
On the other side of the aisle, Democrats have pushed for SNAP to expand and remove the three-month time limit for receiving out-of-work benefits.
Representatives Barbara Lee of California and Alma Adams of North Carolina reintroduced the Enhancement of Access to Nutrition Act earlier this month, with Lee calling the work requirement “punitive and arbitrary.”
“These guys talk about states’ rights all the time, except when it comes to poor people,” Representative Jim McGovern (D., Mass.) told Politico about the bill before it was announced.