Armed with the pervasive myth of a Welfare Queen siphoning off government resources, Republicans have long viewed federal assistance programs like food stamps as wasteful, while arguing recipients can become dependent on the services and add fuel to the cycle of poverty. With help from the Trump administration, changes are on the horizon for not only welfare programs, but also health, housing and veteran safety net programs that many Americans rely on to get by.
Here are some things to know about the conservative push to restrict the reach of these programs.
In January, President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order that would spur an expansive review of safety net programs. At the same time, the GOP is exploring the idea of legislation geared to cut the number of people who qualify to receive certain benefits.
Trump made campaign promises to not cut Medicaid, Medicare or Social Security, but Politico reported today that Medicaid is among the programs listed as up for review in his executive order.
The Trump administration has already signaled a new approach to welfare programs in a few ways. The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to give states greater control over their role in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides benefits most of us know as food stamps. Federal health officials have also encouraged states to create work requirements for able-bodied adult recipients of Medicaid. Along with the Children’s Health Insurance Program, Medicaid provides more than 72 million Americans with health coverage.
States gaining more control over SNAP benefits could usher in requirements like drug testing, but similar efforts to test welfare recipients have failed to be cost effective. Oklahoma began requiring applicants for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families to pass a drug screen five years ago, leading the state to spend $2.2 million for testing that found less than 3 percent of applicants tested positive for drugs.
Wisconsin sued the federal government a few years ago over whether or not the state has the right to drug test food stamp applicants. A judge dropped the suit since Wisconsin hadn’t actually started the program, and the Trump administration hasn’t explicitly said it would allow the drug screening. The process, outlined in a rule that Gov. Scott Walker’s administration finalized last week, would be similar to Oklahoma’s approach to TANF applicants – an initial questionnaire, followed by a drug test for those who are deemed more likely to abuse drugs.
Among the safety net programs that had been at risk was a joint program run by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to reduce the number of veterans who are homeless. The VA had planned to reallocate $460 million reserved for the program, which is called HUD-VASH, but the department canceled that decision last week after criticism over the plan. About 138,000 veterans have used the program to find permanent housing since 2008, and homelessness among veterans has almost been cut in half since 2009.
Contact Mollie Bryant at 405-990-0988 or bryant@bigiftrue.org. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.