Posted on 10/28/2014 7:54:08 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Great Recession ended more than 1,900 days ago, and the national unemployment rate is 5.9 percent — but many able-bodied adults in 42 states nevertheless continue to collect long-term food-stamp benefits without working, volunteering, or training for a job.
Unless a state has extraordinarily high unemployment or a dearth of jobs, able-bodied adults who are younger than 50 and without a dependent must spend 20 hours a week productively if they wish to continue drawing food-stamp benefits longer than three months — or so says a policy enacted as part of the 1996 welfare reforms.
But Congress temporarily suspended this work requirement during the Great Recession, and the number of able-bodied, childless beneficiaries on the welfare dolls ballooned, accounting for more than one in ten of all recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Today, 28 states continue to waive the work requirement altogether, despite an average unemployment rate of 6.72. An additional 13 states have waived the work requirement in some parts of their states, despite an average unemployment rate of just 4.58.
The unemployment rate alone isn’t indicative of whether jobs are available, says Lawrence Mead, an American Enterprise Institute scholar who has studied mandatory work requirements. But he says his own research has suggested that employment opportunities remained open for able-bodied adults with low skills, even during the recession.
“I think the recession was unduly severe, and many states reasoned that unskilled workers should have food stamps,” Mead says. “The fear was that after three months, people would be thrown off food stamps and they’d be destitute. But I don’t think that happened: Jobs remained available, there were ways to survive. I think this [waiver] was well-intentioned, but it’s turned out not to be a crisis. . . . It’s not a good thing to waive this. Jobs are available, so people should have to work.”
Slowly, states are beginning to come around to Mead’s point of view. On October 1, both Maine and New Mexico gave up their federal waiver, reestablishing the work requirement. Indiana will follow next spring.
New Mexico’s terminated waiver will affect around 80,000 of the state’s 420,000 SNAP recipients, says Matt Kennicott, a spokesman for the Human Services Department.
“We think it’s important to continue giving New Mexicans a hand up, and that’s exactly what removing the waiver does,” he says. “It helps them find employment, and in other cases, it helps give them job training and job skills that they might not necessarily have had.”
Kennicott tells NRO that the issue has not been much politicized in New Mexico. “I don’t know why the candidates haven’t picked it up,” he adds.
But in Maine, as I reported last week, the end of the work-requirement waiver and other related policies regarding the food-stamp and cash-benefit programs has become a central campaign issue. Indeed, the neck-and-neck gubernatorial race is widely viewed as a state referendum on welfare reform.
Mary Mayhew, commissioner of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), says that welfare reform, including ending the waiver, is “absolutely a strong issue” for Republican governor Paul LePage.
“[LePage] has been passionate about breaking generational poverty . . . [and] that message has resonated throughout the state and on both sides of the aisle. His efforts to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse in the programs is also widely supported throughout the state,” Mayhew tells NRO.
If a 2012 Rasmussen poll is any indication, voters agree; it found that 83 percent of adults supported a work requirement for welfare recipients, and only 7 percent outright opposed it. Other states should take note.
— Jillian Kay Melchior writes for National Review as a Thomas L. Rhodes Fellow for the Franklin Center. She is also a senior fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum.
Perhaps this is how the Left keeps itself in power.
You think it’s bad now, wait until November 5th when Barry floods America with his “unaccompanied U.S. citizens”. Americans are going to catch he!!. Hold on to your wallet.
We are cutting the size of our armed forces. A lot of these men and women serving our nation are making $1500 per month. WE’RE SENDING MORE IN WELFARE TO A LOT OF PEOPLE SETTING ON THEIR ASSES AT HOME DOING NOTHING!!!!
Welfare should only be short-term and for the truly needy. And government needs to get out of the business.
Sad commentary on “keeping them down on the farm.”
Over a ten year period of time, food stamps will add another $trillion to our debt. This doesn’t include all the other forms of welfare we’re paying for either.
Without welfare, our nation wouldn’t have a debt.
Indeed it is.
The underlying reason the left wants all charity to go through the gov’t is to avoid the “judgmentalism” that would inherently accompany any private charity.
You see, if I’m voluntarily giving my money to a charity, I’m going to make sure that they are being diligent with my “investment”. And they are subsequently going to “judge” the worthiness of the recipients and possibly “require” things of them - like try to NOT need charity next month.
With government, they can just simply put a gun in your face, take your money, and thrust it on everyone who demands it, and feel good about themselves for doing it.
It’s the liberals free meal ticket to serfdom.
True enough.
I give my charitable contributions (money, food and clothes, the latter two through the St. Vincent de Paul Society) to Catholic Charities. Apparently, they are honest and efficient enough that the U.S. doles out its foreign aid through them.
For the gainsayers: That is what I have read over the years and no, I do not have a link.
“Keep working.Millions that don’t want to depend on you.”
The serfs are such by CHOICE. They get a FREE education, clothes, food (breakfast and lunch), domicile and welfare cash.
The weak and lazy stay that way. The strong and energetic BECOME that way: the path of least resistance, the LOW road.
There’s unlimited demand for free stuff?
Who knew?
What can these under unmotivated and often over educated re worthless studies, people do besides collect welfare?
They are unable to do math, have zero command of functional English, and have zero self control. They are terrible employees.
Their only motivation is to blame those, who with self control, good work habits and have a good education (that doesn’t mean having an instant unemployment degree).
A good education today is developing and mastering a needed skill and using it in the work place. If your skills and education are no longer needed, you need to update yourself with the education and skills needed in today’s job market.
This problem will only get worse as the liberal core concept takes over all public education at all levels. Which is what the elite liberals want, a large % of the American population unable to function/survive in today’s world without the skills needed.
Dollar General built a new store in my town -the change of location was needed so they could install coolers for foods like bologna,frozen dinners,milk,etc. which in turn made the store qualified to accept EBT cards.If the acceptance of EBT is that much of an incentive you know we have a problem.Store employees told me this was the reason for the new store.The old location had a lease restricting them from having coolers.
If the recipients are able to work, they should be (at least after awhile) reqired to seek employment.
(If they recipients have any serious disabilities, okay then we should, IMHO, help them without trying to impose unreasonable requirements on them......... But, if they’re in good physical and mental condition — then it is very wrong to deprive them of their human dignity with perpetual give-away programs.)
........ Of course, it sure would help if the WashDC administration’s policies weren’t killing, or preventing rhe creation of, so many millions of jobs!!!
And no one would starve in the streets, either. Before welfare there was charity, and a pride that caused people to avoid taking it if possible.
In Washington State, 1 out of 6 residents is on Food Stamps.
And they’re fat, and drive Lexuses. My Lady attempts to teach their kids, and knows.
Democrat machine at work.
I have a friend up here in Maine that has had a few “problems” ...but hes a worker!!....He got laid off his $12 an hour job and went digging clams (he'd done it before but its hard work so he took the $12 dollar job for the security)...since he's been doing it...his lowest payday was $96 and his best day was $340...U do the math..but hes voting for LaPage!....There is work out there...U just have to be willing to do it....
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