Making SNAP a block grant is stupid.

The End.

David Rogers had an article over at Politico on the new working poor and SNAP. As Speaker John Boehner asks where are all the job, House Republicans try to kick the unemployed off food stamps if they can’t find jobs. You see Boehner and Co are looking to reimpose work requirements on millions of able-bodied adults on SNAP.  Most of these people have no earnings and without job training or workfare slots, these changes could have disastrous effects on everyone. But House GOP pretend to believe all poor people are lazy...I'm pretty sure they aren't all collectively this stupid, but rather they are callous and have no concern for the poor. You can heard libertarian and conservative asshats screaming "individualism over socialism" now.

The House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Ok) is resisting the move because this is going to be bad for the economy…take a minute, a Republican as a voice of reason is strange to me as well. However, the Oklahoma state Legislature has already taken steps to reinstate the work requirements. Additionally, the Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va) has raised the issue a few times with Lucas to win conservative votes for his farm bill (slated for markup May 15).

So this sounds like the GOP of yester-decade and the welfare reform debate from 1990s. Obviously, this will show what, if anything, they have learned from their losses in November. Romney’s rhetoric became pretty taboo pretty fast during the campaign with his “truly needed” language. However, some of the GOP has decided this is the way to go with their assumptions that poor people need to get back to work. This call to motivate the poor is in contrast to the promises the House GOP have made to help low-income, working class Americans hovering at the poverty line.

Way back when, the “working poor” were the Republican model for social advancement, which was helped by the economic boom in the 1990s. However, now there has been the shift from full-time laborers to part-time laborers, which means fewer hours and fewer benefits. At the same time the social safety-net costs are raising, while the GOP takes aim to cut benefits.

Rogers summarizes a bit of where these pressures are coming from, which is the Heritage Foundation, which isn’t far from my apartment, and I always consider the ramifications to sneaking in…I just want to look around, maybe take some things, pour red paint over some desks, you know the usual. Also, Wisconsin’s Secretary’s Innovation Group and Gov. Walker are putting on the pressure. The article continues to note that New York’s Mayor Bloomberg (if you were on my Valentine's list then you know my feelings on him) is in favor of work requirements for food stamps. His human resources commissioner, Robert Doar said, “The mayor is a big believer in work. We believe work is the path out of poverty.”

I don’t think they know how poverty or the economy works. Food stamps (SNAP or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) is going to be the test run for Republican’s new approach to poverty, which is kind of their old approach to poverty. In 2012, enrollment in SNAP reached 46.6 million which costs $78.4 billion. This is double the spending level in 2008 and reflects the recession and President Obama’s decision to increase benefits. A little info: SNAP is a federally funded program so everyone who meets the requirements gets it, not to be confused with a block grant like TANF, which is a set amount from the feds and states make up the rest. With TANF when the money is gone it is gone. People don't get TANF because of shortages of funds. The social safety-net in the US is really only for the most destitute. Anyone who studies it will tell you that.

Most people recognize that SNAP is a little program and has to do a lot, while critics often claim that Congress waive SNAP rules without updating them. While the program does need some reform the reformers are split on what that is. Republicans want to turn the program into a block grant, which is the worst idea every next to ending the program just look at the outcomes for TANF recipients. Republicans are also interested in reinstating the asset test, which is an outdated plan from the 1980s, which Texas rejected…Texas rejected. Yeah, good plan.

The article alleges that work reforms are an investment in people over cost saving for Washington. Rogers says:

“The numbers suggest the work reforms are more an investment in people than a big cost savings for Washington. Wisconsin is assuming a 50 percent participation rate in the training effort but at an added public cost of about $125-a month per participant. All this, when the maximum food stamp benefit for many of these individuals is about $200 a month.”

This investment in people might not be true. This is cost saving for corporations who high low-wage laborers and can pay them less than minimum wage (as long as the total benefits you collect balance to minimum wage, which includes TANF, SNAP, housing assistance, etc). That isn’t mentioned in this article. Work requirements push low-skilled people in low-skilled work for low-wages. This is how the classes continue to become stratified.

Conservatives are worried about the ABAWDs (Able-bodied Adults without Dependents) participation have increased. In 2008, 1.9 million ABAWDs were enrolled in SNAP, which was about 6.9%, but 2011 data shows 4 million (9%) of total enrollment. This isn’t a huge increase by any means especially with the slow economic recovery. At this point 43 states opted for the automatic waivers because they qualify for jobless aid. The Food and Nutrition Service told Politico that 33 states may still qualify by 2015 based on the economic forecasting, which I assume is determined by an intern with an magic 8 ball. Of course, Congress could just drop the extended benefits which would trigger state waivers.

So the Conservatives are circling and taking aim at Lucas by potentially blocking another farm bill if he doesn’t get in line. So never fear, Republicans are going to try to force through work requirements on SNAP by playing politics and bullying their own. Turning SNAP into a block grant is a horrifyingly bad idea. You can see what has happened or not happened with TANF. First, work participation rates (after being determined with an Ouija board and a prayer) are a poor metric to determine if people are leaving poverty. After welfare reform, it has been shown that more people are living in poverty and disconnected from any resources. So kicked off welfare and receiving no aid with low-wages if they have any employment. Secondly, block grants are finite resources, and they run out, which is one of the reasons cash assistance benefits haven’t gone up in most states since the 1996 reform. Finally, make no mistake this will result in people who need SNAP going without benefits. We’ll have more malnutrition in the US, in the USA, a country that consumes the most resources.