Source; Wishes to remain Anonymous
What is different is that now states are less able to exempt recipients from the work-related requirements. Until now, many states, including California and Illinois, have exempted the vast majority of recipients. Only 16 states fully enforced work-related requirements, so that probably 66% of recipients nationally were exempt. So entitlement fraud is what the left-wing/democrat supports and wants more of.
To review, the composition of the food-stamp population changed dramatically under BObama regime. Until then, relatively few adults without dependent children were on the rolls. BObama not only made it easier for them to qualify, eliminating the requirement to have limited wealth and strict enforcement of the legislated income limit, and allowed those who qualified for other benefit programs to automatically qualify for food stamps. As a result, the number of food-stamp recipients increased from 28.2 million to 47.6 million in 2013. And despite continuous robust growth for the next decade, it was still 41.9 million in 2023. Since 2007, after adjusting for inflation, food-stamp expenditures have doubled to $120 billion.
Citing Dept of Agriculture data, nearly 30% of able-bodied, childless adults — about 2.9 million — did not work even 1 hour a week. When Kansas enforced the work requirement, it halved the average time people received assistance, from 14 to 7 months. The share of those employed jumped from 18% to 36%, and wages increased from an average of $6,000 to $13,000. Yes, a fair number simply chose not to meet the work-related requirement, but those who did work more and had a substantial rise in their incomes. This issue highlights neo-liberal feelings. With almost a religious fervor, left-wing/democrats are unwilling to attach any behavioral requirements to benefits programs. For example, they refuse to require those addicted to drugs to enter a treatment program as a condition for housing. They promote universal basic income programs even though rigorous evaluations find that they reduce engagement in productive behavior. And they reject the evidence that the work-related requirements of b.j. clinton-era welfare reform were responsible for moving black women forward. They prefer to empower and perpetuate destructive behavior and its resulting poverty.
There is also a 2nd major change in the legislation: Under certain circumstances, the federal government would no longer provide full payments to recipients. There are annual audits that measure what share of recipients who received overpayments or underpayments. Underpayments are always less than 2%. It is the overpayments that are subject to the new rules. They were 3% in 2014, but 11% nationally in 2024. The new policy will cut back federal funding of recipients, to stop expensive fraud, by 5% if the overpayment rate is 6-8%, by 10% if it is 8-10% and by 15% if it is above 10%. Interestingly, of the 15 states above the 2024 national average, the vast majority were deep left-wing/democrat states, including California, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland. Indeed, only Florida and Georgia were in the Republican column.
It is up to the states how they respond. Maybe if they hadn’t depleted their reserves to fund illegal migrants in sanctuary cities, they would have the funds to make up for the federal losses. Or maybe they could be more honest and reduce the overpayment rates to where they were 5 or 10 years ago. In any case, it is hard to condemn a justifiable rule if some states make the effort to reduce their food stamp program fraud. Expect that the outcome will be similar to what happened after Roe v. Wade was overturned. Then, wildly exaggerated lies of its harmfulness were forecasted, for propaganda purposes, but failed to materialize.
With the enforcement of work requirements, left-wing/democrats will undoubtedly find a few isolated examples of underserved hardships and pretend that's universal, more so if some states reduce coverage rather than finding ways to address their overpayment rates. However, there will be many more examples that follow the Kansas outcomes: higher employment rates and less long-term dependency. And less actual greed from the left-wing/democrat demand of other people's money.
https://hannity.com/media-room/trump-tightens-the-belt-white-house-payroll-lowest-in-16-years-saving-taxpayer-cash-report/
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What are your views on this subject? I would like to hear feedback on this.
The Tradesman
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