MILLIONS to be Cut Off From Food Stamps and Medicaid 2018!
The food stamp reforms are the latest step in the GOP's efforts to add or increase work requirements in various government benefit programs. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday directing federal agencies to promote employment for those on public assistance.
Earlier this year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services began allowing states to mandate that certain Medicaid enrollees must work for the first time in the program's history, while the Department of Housing and Urban Development is looking into the issue for those in subsidized housing. The Department of Agriculture also wants to strengthen the work requirements in the food stamp program, officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
The House farm bill calls for expanding the number of people subject to work requirements. Currently, able-bodied adults ages 18 to 49 who don't have minor children must work or enroll in a training program for 20 hours a week to receive benefits for more than three months every three years. About 3.5 million of the roughly 41 million people enrolled in SNAP are subject to this provision.