Great news for fiscal conservatives: the government is tying food stamps to recipients’ ability and willingness to seek some form of employment.
While it may be welcome news to those who feel we spend too much on a welfare program that does nothing but encourage dependency, liberals are aghast at the fact that the government is requiring food stamp beneficiaries to meet some very basic requirements before they get their assistance. While to most people this might seem reasonable, to them it is an unconscionable crime with few parallels in history.
Such hysterical reactions are all the more unwarranted when one actually looks at the the recently-introduced requirements. For able-bodied adults between the ages of 18 and 49 without children or dependents to continue participating in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, they must work, volunteer, or take part in a job training program for at least 20 hours a week.
The new requirements, which went into effect this past Friday, can hardly be called draconian. But in spite of this, some are already projecting major decreases in the number of food stamp recipients across the nation, as beneficiaries cannot or simply refuse to follow the new rules.
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that’ s not who these actions are targeting, asshole
I’m sure they aren’t taking away from the actual ones that need and qualify .
Obama said there are plenty of jobs! Don’t tell me he’s lying!
This is GREAT but are they going ro enforce it?
Women who have children just to live off the system should be sterilized. Generational welfare should be stopped! Free everything for having one kid after another!
Good. Time these leeches work for a living.
Time to get a job
They are exempt and will not be affected.
The American Recovery Act and stimulus program was a temporary thing and before the big Obama overhaul, work for welfare was in place as far back as the mid-nineties.
It changed only because Congress and President Obama temporarily increased SNAP benefits as part of the 2009 American Recovery Act. In order to receive an increase in federal funding, the states had to extend benefits to people that wouldn’t have qualified before. They changed the approval requirements as a temporary assistance to the underemployed.
The Recovery Act ends this year. This means that the states will be receiving less funding; therefore the states are forced to reduce the SNAPS benefit payout. That is why pretty much every state is headed back to their pre-2009 requirements.
One requirement, is to have some (not all) SNAP recipients to ‘volunteer,’ and the article does NOT say how many hours are required, but it may vary based on the individual. The alternative, is to enroll in school (approved workforce training) which would give individuals the skills and training to be more employable, and hopefully, land a job that pays livable wages.
The work training is paid with funding through programs like the Workforce Investment Act, which was signed by President Clinton. Google it if you’ve never heard of it. If the childless, able-bodied, between ages 18 and 49 (SNAP recipients) enroll in workforce training programs, they will continue receiving benefits while receiving a free education.
Bottom line, these requirements aren’t new. This is the result of the expiration of the American Recovery Act.
Disabled people will still get SNAPS, as will the elderly and low income individuals with children; which is to whom it was always intended.
Even though freebies are taken guess where your tax money still going government…they are the reason America going broke.