America needs welfare reform, and the need is acute. The national unemployment rate is near record lows, sitting at just 4.1 percent. Employers are desperate for workers, with more jobs across the country open and unfilled than virtually any point since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking them. But despite a strong economy, there are nearly 21 million able-bodied adults dependent on food stamps — three times as many as 2000. Spending on these adults has grown fivefold. And most are on the sidelines, not working at all.
But there’s a light on the horizon.
President Trump’s proposed 2019 budget hits all the right notes when it comes to fixing welfare. If Congress adheres to the principles and priorities it sets forth, America just might get the welfare system it deserves: one that provides a pathway out of dependency and preserves resources for the truly needy.
The proposed budget sets two critical priorities for reform: moving able-bodied adults from welfare to work and preserving resources for the truly needy.
In the 1990s, Congress passed reforms that required some able-bodied, childless adults to work, train, or volunteer in order to receive food stamps. But the law exempted nearly three-quarters of all able-bodied adults on food stamps, including parents and middle-aged, childless adults. State bureaucrats have used waivers and exemptions to gut these requirements even further. In some states, the requirements are waived even in counties with no unemployment at all.
Trump’s budget seeks to reverse that. Under the proposal, states could only waive existing work requirements during real economic downturns. The budget also seeks to expand these work requirements to more able-bodied adults, including some middle-aged adults. Congress should build on these reforms in the next farm bill to ensure that all able-bodied adults work, train, or volunteer.
This simple reform has the power to move millions of able-bodied adults from welfare to work. Experience in multiple states shows that those affected find jobs in more than 600 diverse industries and double their incomes in just a year. And they gain something no amount of welfare can ever provide: the dignity that comes from work.
But the Trump budget doesn’t stop there. It also seeks to protect the truly needy by ending loopholes that keep people dependent on welfare and by fighting fraud. The budget ends the “broad-based categorical eligibility” loophole, a holdover from the Clinton administration that allows states to declare people with significant resources, even millionaires, eligible for food stamps even if they don’t meet typical eligibility rules. This loophole has made millions of Americans dependent on welfare, even though they wouldn’t otherwise qualify. Every dollar spent on those with significant financial resources is a dollar that can’t go to the truly needy, including seniors, poor children, and individuals with disabilities.
The budget also preserves resources for the most vulnerable by expanding an anti-fraud strategy currently employed in five southeastern states. These states, led by Mississippi, banded together to share eligibility data across state lines through the National Accuracy Clearinghouse. When someone applies for food stamps in Mississippi, welfare offices in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana get notified, and vice versa. The strategy has proven effective in stopping thousands of fraudsters from collecting welfare in multiple states, saving taxpayers millions of dollars. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, this strategy could save taxpayers more than $1 billion over the next decade.
Trump’s 2019 budget sets a clear roadmap for welfare reform in the coming year. Some of it, such as ending loopholes like broad-based categorical eligibility and rejecting waivers from existing work requirements, can be done unilaterally through executive action. But many of the reforms will require congressional action.
Congress should use the upcoming farm bill to advance these priorities. It should expand commonsense work requirements to all able-bodied adults. It should end loopholes and gimmicks that keep people dependent on welfare. And it should adopt anti-fraud strategies that preserve resources for the truly needy.
Voters across the country are demanding reform. Nine out of 10 people support reforms that will move millions of Americans from welfare to work. They support reforms that will end the cycle of dependency and protect resources for the truly needy. The president has set a bold new vision for welfare reform. Congress should make that vision a reality.
Kristina Rasmussen is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is vice president of federal affairs for the Foundation for Government Accountability.
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