Without much fanfare (totally apropos, given what’s been happening in the world of the White House in the last 72 hours),
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that will
force recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits,
Medicaid and low-income housing subsidies to find work or lose their
assistance.Trump quietly signed the long-anticipated order, oddly named
“Reducing Poverty in America by Promoting Opportunity and Economic
Mobility.” Given that many government agencies, including the Department
of Health and Human Services, have already begun issuing waivers to
Republican governors who want to impose stricter work requirements on
Medicaid recipients to cut costs, it will not make much of an impact, according to the New York Times.The
fact remains that most able-bodied adults who receive federal aid in
the form of subsidized health care or housing already work—but are still
unable to make ends meet; others receive exemptions for legitimate
reasons.From the Times:
The order gave
all cabinet departments 90 days to produce plans that impose work
requirements on able-bodied aid recipients and block ineligible
immigrants from receiving aid, while drafting “a list of recommended
regulatory and policy changes” to push recipients off the rolls and into
jobs.…
The aim, Trump aides said … is to prod federal
and state officials to take a tougher stance with aid recipients —
millions of whom currently receive exemptions from existing work
requirements because they are in training programs, provide care for
relatives or volunteer their labor.The Agriculture Department is
already pressuring states to impose work requirements in the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the program formerly known as
food stamps. Earlier this year, the Department of Health and Human
Services granted a waiver to Arkansas
so it could require Medicaid recipients to get jobs, participate in job
training or engage in job searches at least 80 hours a month.According
to the Kaiser Foundation, most able-bodied adults who do not already
have jobs face obstacles in working, including mental problems, criminal
records and certain family situations.Yet the narrative from the Trump administration says differently.
“Our
country suffers from nearly record high welfare enrollments,” said
Andrew Bremberg, the president’s domestic policy chief, according to the
Times, which notes that Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
payments to poor people are approaching record lows.Trump also
reportedly wants to change the word “welfare” to include not only cash
payments but also food and medical benefits (SNAP and Medicaid).Or
he just doesn’t give AF. And I quote: “Mr. Trump, several aides said,
is unconcerned—or perhaps even unaware—of the distinction between cash
assistance and other safety-net programs … he calls them all welfare.”And we know what connotations go along with that.
FFFUUUCCCKKK
Goddammit.
To all the people this bullshit is going to harm and make life even more awful/difficult for: remember that the Republicans are the ones responsible for this shit during the midterm elections this year
AND VOTE THESE HATEFUL SACKS OF SHIT OUT
This is how they kill poor people, slowly and legally
My dad will lose both his home and food stamps from this.
President Signs Executive Order Mandating That Poor People Work or Lose ‘Welfare’
Death By Catchphrase 