EXCLUSIVE: GOP Lawmakers Want To Do Something About Food Stamps’ Freeloader Problem

GOP lawmakers are proposing major reforms to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), including work requirements for a vast swathe of eligible participants, the 🏢Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF) has learned.

Republican Oklahoma Rep. Josh Brecheen and Utah Sen. Mike Lee will reintroduce the SNAP Reform and Upward Mobility Act (SRUMA) Thursday. The legislation would impose work requirements on food stamp recipients between the ages of 18 and 64, including individuals with children of six years of age or older.

Able-bodied adults with no dependents between the ages of 18 and 54 are currently eligible for three months of SNAP benefits over three years before work requirements start to kick in, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which oversees the program.

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The bill would also close loopholes that have contributed to an expansion in eligible recipients and require states to share more responsibility in contributing to the program, according to background on the bill obtained by the DCNF.

The GOP lawmakers argue imposing work requirements will end “a culture of dependency” on the popular entitlement program and allow SNAP to return to its fundamental mission of providing temporary relief to Americans in financial need. Lee told the DCNF the program was not designed to be “a permanent subsidy for able-bodied adults.”

“For decades, the federal government has grossly mismanaged SNAP, loosening eligibility requirements, allowing more recipients to be exempt from work requirements, and overseeing massive fraud and abuse,” Brecheen told the DCNF. “It’s time to return to commonsense policies that promote our American values of hard work and individual responsibility.”