House Republicans are insisting that a deal to raise the debt ceiling must include bolstered work requirements for Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as “food stamps), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
Under the GOP proposal, 600,000 Americans would lose their health care after being kicked out of federal Medicaid funding, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis from April.
That would save the government $109 billion over the next decade, the CBO estimated, which barely covers the $32 trillion in federal debt amassed through decades and by both parties.
Republicans insist that the U.S. should not be spending money to help people who can work get by and are looking to crack down on what they see as wasteful expenditures.
Even so, bolstered work requirements have a limited track record of success, according to experts, and may do little to bring more workers into the U.S. labor market.
“If the goal is to get people who can work into work, the way that this goes about that is saying, ‘Prove it,’ said Kathryn Anne Edwards, an economist and public policy analyst, in an interview with The Hill.
“That’s very different from checking on them using the excellent administrative data that many state governments already have,” Edwards continued.
Tobias Burns walks us through the implications here at digital-stage.thehill.com.
