Federal ‘Work Requirements’, Benefit Cuts Already in Effect for Millions This Year

WASHINGTON – Republicans and President Joe Biden are locked in a political fight over federal spending and whether Congress should restrict eligibility for food and health benefits.

But even if Congress does nothing, federal benefits are being cut this year and millions of Americans are losing eligibility.

More than 16 million households have already seen the benefits of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program wither after Congress canceled an increase implemented at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. This month, seniors saw their fall monthly allowance from $295 to as low as $23.

And up to 15 million people will lose Medicaid in the coming months because Congress canceled the pandemic policy of maintaining enrollment by failing to continually reverify recipients’ eligibility. Millions could lose coverage simply for not keeping up with the paperwork.

Republicans want to further cut the Medicaid and SNAP rolls by setting tougher limits on benefits for jobless adults without children or disabilities. Lawmakers have frequently claimed that Biden eased eligibility while ignoring the fact that tougher standards are already being re-implemented.

“Right now there are more job openings than there are job seekers, in part because the Biden administration has weakened some of the same job requirements that then-Senator Joe Biden previously supported,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said. (R-Calif.) last year. week.

McCarthy has said that unless President Biden agrees to spending cuts and new “job requirements,” Republicans will refuse to allow the federal government to continue borrowing money to pay for the most basic federal expenses.

It is a high-stakes matchup. If McCarthy and Biden can’t reach an agreement to raise the “debt ceiling” limit for government loans, sometime this summer the government could stop making payments, potentially disrupting financial markets and the economy.

This week, McCarthy said the House will vote on a symbolic bill to raise the debt ceiling, cut federal spending and create new work requirements for people who receive benefits from SNAP, Medicaid and Temporary Assistance for Needy families. The bill is impossible for Democrats, and it’s unclear if it can win enough Republican support to pass.

Even if House Republicans fail to win new job requirements in both the House and Senate, non-disabled SNAP recipients will still face tougher rules in the coming months thanks to a deal between Biden and Republicans to end the formal declaration of a public health emergency related to the pandemic.

SNAP already requires healthy adults without dependents to spend about 20 hours per week in employment or training, though all states were able to waive the requirement during the pandemic thanks to a relief bill signed into law by then-President Donald Trump in 2020. .

Starting in July, states will lose the ability to waive the rule based on the pandemic. Failure to comply with the work rule limits SNAP recipients to three months of benefits over three years, meaning the cutoffs will begin in October. The time limit applies to SNAP recipients between the ages of 18 and 49 who are not caring for children. (Most SNAP households include children or the elderly or disabled.)

Gina Plata-Nino, deputy director for SNAP policy at the Food Research & Action Center, said the policy could affect 1.5 million SNAP recipients, and probably won’t help them get jobs.

“There is a large body of research showing that time limits do not increase employability, but rather have a direct damaging effect on people who can only get SNAP for three months in a three-year period,” Plata-Nino said.

Republicans have proposed extending the time limit to age 55, as well as making it more difficult for states to remove the rule in areas of high unemployment.