Jennifer G. Hickey writes @FoxNews.com that after “the food stamp rolls swelled for years under the Obama administration, fresh figures show a dramatic reduction in states that recently have moved to restore work requirements.”
“States were allowed to waive those rules for able-bodied adults thanks to the 2009 economic stimulus. As the rules loosened and the economy sputtered out of the recession, food stamp enrollment soared to record levels – peaking at nearly 48 million nationwide in 2013.”
In recent years, some states have moved aggressively to push recipients who can work back into the job market and, in due time, off the program.
When Alabama began requiring in 2017 that able-bodied adults without children in 13 counties either find a job or participate in work training as a condition for continuing to receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, according to AL.com, the number of those recipients declined from 5,538 to 831 between Jan. 1 and the beginning of May – an 85 percent drop.
Similarly, in select counties in Georgia by the end of the first three months, “the number of adults receiving benefits in three participating counties dropped 58 percent, according to the Georgia Public Policy Foundation.”
“The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently reported that in 21 additional counties that restored the work requirement, there was a 62 percent drop in SNAP participants.”
As to be expected, “advocates for waivers argue that the flexibility is needed to help people get back on their feet in the wake of the economic crisis. And a call in the Trump administration’s budget to resurrect the work mandate and scale back SNAP’s budget has drawn fire from anti-hunger advocates.”
Mariana Chilton, a professor of public health at Drexel University, predicted in a column for The Hill: “Parents will work just as hard at unforgiving jobs and see less food on the table for their families. Children will become sicker without the proper nutrition, ending up in hospitals or on the rolls of what social services remain. Some children will die.”
Despite the dire warnings, though, “an analysis of a group of 7,000 Mainers who left SNAP in 2014 found their total earnings increased from $3.85 million in the third quarter 2014 to $8.24 million in the last quarter of 2015.” An increase in income of more than 200% for those involved.
Similarly, “Kansas saw a 75 percent decline after implementing work requirements in 2013. In addition, nearly 60 percent of former beneficiaries found employment within 12 months and their incomes rose by an average of 127 percent per year, according to the Foundation for Government Accountability.”
And while the Democrats greatest fear isn’t mentioned, simple common sense applies again. Whereas now that the former SNAP recipients are making some money on their own, the chances are they’ll start voting Republican now.
The same kind of real-world level-headedness came from former Democratic congressman and presidential candidate, Dennis Kucinich, who blasted his party colleagues on Tuesday over a push to examine President Trump’s mental and physical fitness for office – and potentially use the findings to seek his removal.
Appearing on “Fox & Friends” Kucinich said “It’s a political statement, not a medical statement. I think it’s destroying the party as an effective opposition.”
He then inadvertently put his finger on a major part of his party’s problem by saying: “People want political parties to be focused on America’s economic needs, jobs, wages, heath care, education, retirement security and peace -- and they want American politicians to be constructive, not destructive.” However, his party’s shortfall is, none of its leadership has any of those answers or capabilities.
Thus, in the absence of constructive alternatives and qualified candidates, a campaign is being led by Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who’s trying to rally support for his mental-fitness bill “in the wake of Trump’s controversial attacks on various media outlets and personalities.”
While bill has nearly two-dozen cosponsors, including former Democratic Party leader Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the following tweets are what Raskin’s referring to:
While the POTUS’s tweets certainly seem sane and perfectly logical, it’s also of interest to note how viewers responded. While Trump received a total of more than 105,000 positives in total, Raskin’s results were very much different.
Raskin tweeted: "The President should take a break from watching TV and read the
That got him 183 “retweets,,” and 426 “Likes” in total. A shortfall of 104,574 to Trump supporters.
A couple of readers provided quite appropriate comments.
Reader mikekley commented: “When a wack job like Kucinich recognizes the destructiveness of the DNC, one would think it would open some liberal eyes...
“But, to the good fortune of the country, Kucinich is now just too main stream for the far-left nuts running the DNC...
“Bottom line, 2018 will be good for the country and the GOP...”
mich46 added: “I guess everybody in the USA is allowed to have an opinion, except the President.
“Everybody in the USA is allowed the "freedom of speech", except the President. and
“everybody in the USA is allowed to have a sense of humor, except the President.”
Which means, as mentioned at the outset today, the present hostile approach taken by Democrats against the POTUS not only makes extremely little political sense, it defies both common sense and logic as well.
That’s it for today folks.
Adios
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