Thousands of able-bodied, childless adults are about to be removed from the food stamp rolls. That’s a good thing.
What defenders of the status quo mislabel as a “draconian” policy has worked across the country. It is helping help people move off government dependency and into better-paying jobs to provide for themselves and their families.
On Dec. 4, the U.S. Department of Agriculture finalized a rule that requires able-bodied adults without dependents to work, train, or volunteer in order to be eligible for food stamps. This requirement had already been in place since the historic welfare reform legislation passed in 1996, but this rule closes loopholes that states had been abusing to avoid implementation.
The doomsday responses to the rule were as predictable as they were contrived. USDA codified what is already the norm in many states, and what could have been — and should have been — the norm for everyone else, if not for states' systematic abuse of waivers. This rule is a sign that this administration has bigger dreams for the American people than a life of dependency.
So, what exactly can states expect going forward? For that, we look to the welfare reform trailblazers.
Arkansas is one of the biggest success stories. After Gov. Asa Hutchinson let the state’s waiver expire in January 2016, able-bodied, childless adult enrollment in the state’s food stamp program dropped by a whopping 70%. This freed up the available resources for the people who truly needed them, including people with disabilities and low-income families with children. For the Arkansans who left the food stamp program, incomes nearly doubled within three months of leaving welfare. Within two years, their incomes had more than tripled. Their income gains more than offset the lost food stamp benefits, with enrollees receiving nearly $2 in new income for every lost food stamp dollar within two years.
When Kansas’s then-Gov. Sam Brownback implemented some of the boldest welfare reforms in the country, including work requirements, the results were life-changing for families in his state. Parents who left dependency found work in more than 600 industries. Incomes steadily rose, more than doubling within the first year, and they were able to break the cycle of dependency that holds families and communities back.
The restoration of work requirements for Mississippians led to a 72% decrease in able-bodied adult enrollment in the food stamp program. With low unemployment and tens of thousands of open jobs, it was time to get Mississippians back to work. After the work requirements were restored, able-bodied adults went on to find work in more than 700 diverse industries, and incomes more than doubled. Taxpayers, in turn, are saving $93 million per year, and it’s freeing up resources for the truly needy.
And in Florida, the diversity of jobs found after welfare is particularly impressive — more than 1,100 different industries! Even those initially finding work in industries like fast food and temp positions found a path forward to new industries with higher pay. After all, the best path to a better job is a first job.
With millions of open positions and historically low levels of unemployment, there is no time like now to help Americans find life beyond government programs. USDA’s rule will help ensure that the individuals and families in the dozens of states that have been waiving work requirements will have the opportunity to experience the dignity of work and to tell their own success stories.
Robin Walker is the senior director of federal affairs at the Foundation for Government Accountability.
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