2018 Farm Bill to Address Changes to SNAP 

By Representative Jodey Arrington Farm Bills come every five years and establish our nations policies regarding agriculture and rural America. Despite its title what most people dont realize is that 80 of the Farm Bills funding - around $70 billion - is spent solely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) also known as food stamps. Meanwhile spending on farming and ranching policy pales in comparison. It costs taxpayers less than half of one percent of the entire federal budget. As your representative its my job to ensure both components of the Farm Bill work well and responsibly to promote the general welfare" of all Americans. I believe the Farm Bill we voted out of the House Agriculture Committee is a very good start. In the bill we included much-needed and long-overdue changes to the food stamp program. Unemployment at 3.9 percent is lower than it has been since the turn of the century. At that time there were 17 million Americans on SNAP today there are more than 41 million people. Further we have more than six million open jobs in this country and meanwhile too many SNAP recipients are sitting on the sidelines. At the heart of our reforms is transforming an entitlement culture back to one that values work and restoring the blessing and dignity that comes with it. We want folks to make the best out of the life that God has given them for our communities for their families for themselves. Our proposal is straightforward: able-bodied adults should work or participate in job training programs in order to receive SNAP benefits. Despite the false claims and scare tactics from the other side of the aisle these reforms do not apply to the most vulnerable our seniors children or disabled Americans. We also provide additional resources to states for workforce training and education services for SNAP recipients. With a growing economy 17-year record-low unemployment rate and millions of surplus jobs opportunities to get a job abound. Our reforms to the SNAP program arent just about being good stewards of taxpayers hard-earned dollars theyre also about giving people a way out of generational poverty into a brighter future of self-reliance and prosperity. Some of my Democrat colleagues used words like heartless" and shameful" to describe these reforms. The real shame is when people demagogue an issue as uncompassionate when it actually encourages people to maximize their God-given potential break the cycle of dependency and improve their quality of life. The Obama welfare state hurt the very people it was designed to help by allowing too many people to game the system" and measuring the programs success by how many folks got a hand out rather than a hand up. It trapped people in the system and created a culture shift of dependency stripping away the values of hard work and self-motivation that made this country exceptional. Work is the surest path out of poverty or as President Reagan said the best social welfare program is a job." Ninety-seven percent of people who work full-time are out of poverty. When President Clinton signed welfare reform into law over 20 years ago he said A significant number of people are trapped on welfare for a very long time exiling them from the entire community of work that gives structure to our lives...Our Nations answer to this great social challenge will no longer be a never-ending cycle of welfare it will be the dignity the power and the ethic of work." Critics at that time like now said reforming welfare would cause wages to go down and children to starve but the results painted a much different and much brighter picture. Welfare caseloads fell to their lowest level in 30 years labor force participation among single mothers rose by over 20 percent and incomes climbed with increases in earnings outpacing welfare benefit declines. However today despite federal law requiring able-bodied adults on food stamps to work train or volunteer for at least 20 hours a week policy gaps and federal gimmicks many from the Obama administration - have allowed 34 states to waive work requirements in some or all regions waiving 35 percent of all work-capable adults from any requirement. It is past time we close these loopholes and over 80 percent of Americans both Democrat and Republican agree. The benefits of work requirements are tried and true. In 2014 Maine began requiring able-bodied adults to work train or volunteer at least part time to receive food stamps. The number of able-bodied adults on food stamps fell from 16000 to 1500 and those who left the SNAP program saw their incomes more than double within the first year. The Maine model taken nationwide could save taxpayers over $8.4 billion per year. In Kansas not only did SNAP rolls fall by 75 percent nearly 60 percent of former beneficiaries found employment within a year and their incomes rose by an average of 127 percent per year. There are few issues in todays political environment that have support from voters of both parties but reforming welfare programs remains one of them. History has shown that when common-sense reforms are implemented and the right incentives are in place people are moved from the welfare rolls to the payrolls benefitting our people our economy and our country. I am undeterred from this opportunity to make America great for ALL Americans. This important work must continue free of partisan fear-mongering. Rep. Jodey Arrington R-Texas serves the 19th District of Texas. He serves as chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity and on the Agriculture and Budget committees.