Surprise Attack On Farm Bill May Have Tanked Efforts To Set Work Requirements For Food Stamps
Conservative Republicans in the House refused to support the farm bill unless they got a separate vote on immigration legislation, disappointing Speaker Paul Ryan, who couldn't get Democratic votes on the bill because it would have added the work requirements.
Politico:
Republicans Claw At Each Other Over Farm Bill Implosion
Speaker Paul Ryan and his leadership team were sure the group of three dozen rabble-rousers would cave. The partisan farm bill, after all, includes historic new work requirements for food stamp beneficiaries that conservatives have demanded for years. ... It is unclear if the conference would get another shot at passing Trump’s work requirements for the food stamp program, though the White House in a statement encouraged the House to try again. Leaders could decide to write a bipartisan bill instead without the food stamp cuts, which would be much easier to pass. (Bade, 5/18)
The Washington Post:
They’re The Think Tank Pushing For Welfare Work Requirements. Republicans Say They’re Experts. Economists Call It ‘Junk Science.’
An obscure, Florida-based policy group with ties to House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and two of the country’s most conservative Republican governors has become one of the loudest and most persuasive voices in the debate over new work requirements in the food stamp program. The Foundation for Government Accountability — headed by a former adviser to Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) — spent six years testing welfare changes in Kansas, Mississippi and other states before taking its ideas to Washington in 2017. On Friday, those ideas — and the FGA’s leveraging of state political connections and policy one-liners to become a fixture in GOP strategy discussions — were in the spotlight when the House voted on a farm bill that sought sweeping changes to work requirements for food stamp recipients. (Dewey, 5/18)
