About 82 percent of all likely voters, including an overwhelming 71 percent of Democrats, support requiring able-bodied adults to work in exchange for staying on food stamps. Yet last month, Democrats in the House of Representatives unanimously voted against the farm bill and the proven reforms it contained — including work requirements. Despite claiming to care about helping individuals, the vote was clear: Congressional Democrats oppose work, the most effective and proven way to lift people out of dependency.
In states that have implemented work requirements for food stamps, able-bodied adults leaving the program doubled their incomes, on average, and found work in more than 600 different industries. There’s a clear connection between work and prosperity — so why don’t congressional Democrats see it?
Rep. Tom O’Halleran, D-Ariz., claims that he was taught the value of hard work, but that lesson seems to have been lost on him. Arizona’s unemployment rate is at a near-record low, and four Arizona cities were recently ranked in the top five Best Places to Find a Job by Wallet Hub. Given stats like that, there’s no better time to move a quarter-million able-bodied Arizonans from welfare to work, but O’Halleran voted against giving them the opportunity to do so when he voted against the farm bill.
Minnesota is in a similar situation. The unemployment rate is at a near record low. With 132,000 job vacancies in Minnesota, the economy is primed for workers — yet Minnesota Democrats opposed the farm bill. Moving people into open jobs should be a no-brainer for any elected official, but Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., who’s making a bid for governor, voted with Nancy Pelosi instead of supporting a better future for able-bodied Minnesotans on welfare. And Rep. Rick Nolan, D-Minn., a candidate for lieutenant governor, also opposed work. If these officials cannot be trusted to support commonsense reforms that get Minnesotans back to work and reduce fraud and abuse in Washington, why should they be trusted to do so in St. Paul?
Like Minnesota, New Hampshire has a strong economy, with one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation. Businesses are itching to grow, but without more workers, New Hampshire’s economy won’t reach its full potential. There’s a great opportunity for many of the 35,700 able-bodied adults stuck on food stamps in the state — but Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H., doesn’t think so. She called the farm bill cruel, but the truth is that keeping thousands of New Hampshire families from securing a better future for themselves is cruel. Instead of satisfying food stamp enrollees’ need for independence and the economy’s need for workers, Shea-Porter is busy protecting the status quo in D.C.
Rep. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., is busy running for Senate by voting against reforms that offer a hand up instead of a hand out. Despite the fact that Nevada’s unemployment rate has dropped below five percent and the state had the fastest employment growth in 2017, a whopping 63 percent of Nevada’s 208,500 able-bodied adults on food stamps are currently not working. Rosen should be championing more pathways for Nevadans to fill new jobs, but instead she’s backing a broken system that keeps people on the sidelines.
Democrats must put aside their fringe opposition to work in favor of proven policies that are supported by the American people, including their own primary voters. The economy is stronger than it has been in more than a decade, and now is the time to get millions of able-bodied adults stuck on food stamps off the sidelines and back into the economy.
Politics is full of second chances, and the farm bill is a case in point. When the farm bill is called for a vote again later this month, House Democrats should get with the program and vote for what’s best for their constituents: work.
Kristina Rasmussen is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is vice president of federal affairs for the Opportunity Solutions Project.
