One point I haven't seen emphasized about the budget deal is that as far as I can tell, it's not going to involve a major hit to the safety net for children. The new SNAP work requirements are cruel, but they apply to childless adults in their 50s 1/
Why this matters: strong evidence of long-term benefits from aid to low-income households with children. Slashing that aid would have been tragic and stupid. Apparently avoided 2/ gspp.berkeley.edu/assets/uploads…
@paulkrugman To be clear: expanding work requirements and cutting funding for the IRS to go after tax cheats will increase the deficit that Republicans claim to care so much about. The two major concessions they got will do the exact opposite of what they claim to want.
@paulkrugman Where are the work requirements for Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, big pharma, bIg oil, defense contractor execs, etc. They take in billions of tax dollars each year with no strings attached.
@paulkrugman @nycsouthpaw Here's the CURRENT childless adult rules for SNAP. 80 hours minimum in a month for a max of $281. That's about $3.50 in food per hour of work/volunteering. The max you can earn is $1,133 a month to be eligible for even $23 food stamps minimum benefits. The cruelty is the point.
@paulkrugman What I would love to see at some point is negative consequences for companies such as Walmart & McDonalds, etc. if their employees make so little that they qualify for SNAP. No company should pocket $ bill., & instead of paying taxes gets refunds from govt & profits on assistance
@paulkrugman Childless adults over 50 constitute up to 25% of the adult population of the United States and most may be among the most vulnerable people in America. Have you researched this at all?
@paulkrugman The amount they’re willing to spend to enforce these requirements is also ridiculous. Using for-profit vendors who validate their work with what? More people. They’re incentivized to “track” people.
@paulkrugman As I understand the SNAP work requirements, they only apply to people who are: Under 55 Not homeless Not disabled Have no children Not veterans Basically, they've excluded most of the major categories of SNAP recipients. What's left would seem to be a pretty small group.