Steve Benen of Maddowblog explains why Kevin McCarthy's latest demand -- work requirements for food stamps and Medicaid -- is such a stupid and vicious one. Via MSNBC:
Let’s instead focus on three key details that the House speaker really ought to be aware of. New work requirements have a lousy track record: When Arkansas experimented with this approach, low-income families found it difficult to navigate the bureaucracy and keep up with paperwork and documentation requirements. The results benefited no one and ended up punishing struggling families. Repeating these mistakes at the national level is a bad idea.
New work requirements are unnecessary: As David Firestone explained in a New York Times piece today, Republicans “persistently ignore the little-mentioned fact that a vast majority of the people receiving these benefits are already working or are unable to work. In 2021, 61 percent of the 25 million people on Medicaid were working in full- or part-time jobs. The rest were retired or disabled or taking care of small children or in school. Similarly, most food-stamp recipients work, and able-bodied adults younger than 50 are required to work in order to get more than three months of benefits in three years, unless they are taking care of children.” The House speaker's top goal, in other words, appears to be a solution in search of a problem.
New work requirements might derail a deal: McCarthy might be under the impression that his “red line” enjoys broad, bipartisan support, but there’s quite a bit of evidence to the contrary. My MSNBC colleague Ja’han Jones had a great report yesterday on Democratic opposition to new work requirements — given the circumstances, if there’s a final deal, it’s going to need a whole lot of Democratic votes — while Politico noted that “it’s a bit unclear if McCarthy even has the full backing of his own conference on this one.” The report added, “In recent months, some Republicans in competitive seats have expressed reluctance to go there on work requirements.”
So, let’s take stock. Thanks to a Republican-imposed extortion scheme, the United States is facing a possible default, and the deadline might come as early as two weeks from tomorrow. Congress’ top GOP official, apparently convinced that low-income Americans aren’t doing enough paperwork, has prioritized an unnecessary policy goal, which has a poor track record, and which has drawn bipartisan criticisms.
Mean and stupid is their brand. Work requirements is exactly the kind of stupid fix Republicans would push, because it punishes poor people for being poor.
