WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has agreed to tougher work requirements for some federal safety-net programs, making a key concession to House Republicans in exchange for their support of raising the debt limit for two years.
The tentative deal reached between Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Saturday night would also keep spending flat for 2024 and impose caps for 2025, which Republican leaders tout as big wins. in negotiations.
The settlement omits the most controversial Republican “work requirement” proposal, which would have denied Medicaid health care coverage to unemployed adults without dependents, many of whom gained coverage under the Affordable Care Act. . For most of its history, Medicaid has not limited employment-based benefits.
But according to a source familiar with the negotiation, the agreement includes a version of the Republican proposal to toughen the existing work requirement in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides food benefits to more than 20 million households.
Under current SNAP rules, able-bodied adults without children between the ages of 18 and 49 can only have three months of benefits unless they work, volunteer, or participate in a training program for 20 hours per week.
The Biden-McCarthy deal would raise the age threshold for the SNAP work rule to 54, a key Republican demand.
But the agreement exempts veterans and the homeless entirely from the work requirement, a major and unexpected change that would likely lessen the impact of the higher age threshold. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the original Republican proposal would have reduced SNAP enrollment by 275,000. In a separate analysis of existing SNAP work requirements, the CBO has said that many people who would lose benefits are homeless.
The compromise also makes the job requirement adjustments temporary and cancels them in 2030, in another victory for Biden.
However, the deal yields to Republicans on the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which provides cash benefits to fewer than 1 million households. Republicans wanted TANF, the program more commonly called “welfare,” to require “work activities” from a higher percentage of families receiving benefits. The settlement includes a modified version of the GOP lawsuit; it is not clear how many families would be affected.
Hardline conservative Republicans criticized the deal Sunday, complaining that there are “virtually no cuts” they initially sought and that it bypasses key Democratic initiatives, including the vast majority of IRS funding Democrats approved last year and the cancellation of Biden’s student loan debt. program.
The deal would freeze spending this year, but when adjusted for growing inflation, the Congressional Budget Office would call it a spending cut, a technicality that would make some conservatives uncomfortable.
However, the deal includes a modest 3% increase in defense spending, as proposed by the Biden administration. republicans he sought an even bigger boost for the Pentagon to keep up with inflation.
Meanwhile, progressives were noticeably quieter in reacting to the deal. House Democrats are scheduled to receive a White House briefing on the tentative deal later Sunday.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said she would withhold judgment on the deal until she sees the legislative text, which often surprises with details omitted from an initial negotiated framework.
“I’m not happy with some of the things I’m hearing about, but they’re not cutting the deficit and they’re not cutting spending,” Jayapal said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” questioning claims by Republican leaders of the House of Representatives that the deal blocked major spending cuts.
Jayapal said it is “really unfortunate that the president has opened the door” to stricter work requirements for food assistance programs, but added that “maybe because of the waivers it will really be okay, I don’t know that.”
Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) noted that most democrats Ultimately, it can learn to live with the deal considering the threat of default on the nation’s financial obligations. During an interview in foxnews, Hime said “This is not a bill that is going to make Democrats happy. But it’s a small enough bill that, in the service of not destroying the economy this week, it can get Democratic votes.”
