Trump tightens food-stamp work rules

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration unveiled a plan Thursday to force hundreds of thousands more Americans to hold jobs if they want to keep receiving food stamps, pursuing through executive powers what it could not achieve in Congress.

The country’s food assistance program, which is run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, already requires most adults without dependents to work if they collect food stamps for more than three months in a three-year period. But USDA regulations allow states to waive the requirement in areas with unemployment rates that were at least 20 percent higher than the national rate.

The USDA is now proposing that states could waive the requirement only in areas where unemployment is above 7 percent. The U.S. rate is 3.7 percent.

Approximately 2.8 million able-bodied recipients who don’t have children or an ailing person in their care were not working in 2016, according to the USDA’S latest numbers. Roughly 755,000 live in areas that stand to lose the waivers.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said on a press call, adding that the measure could save taxpayers $15 billion over 10 years.

U.S Rep. Warren Davidson, a Troy Republican, said stiffening the rules “gives the millions of ablebodied adults who are trapped in government dependency a helping hand transitioning back into full-time employment.”

Hours later, President Donald Trump signed an approximately $870 billion farm bill with funding for the nation’s agricultural programs and for food stamps. The House version of the bill had restricted the waiver program and also imposed new requirements on parents with children ages 6 to 12, but the Senate version did not include those provisions.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D–ohio, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and the farm bill’s conference committee, said of the tougher work rules: “It’s despicable that President Trump would pull the rug out from under hungry Americans right before the holidays — even after Congress made clear in the farm bill that these families shouldn’t be forced to jump through additional bureaucratic hoops to put food on the table.”

Rep. Marcia Fudge, D–cleveland, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, said the administration’s move would effectively circumvent Congress’ will.