By Leah Douglas
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Congress should enact steeper work requirements for Medicaid and food aid in a tax cut and spending plan being advanced by Republicans, four senior Trump administration officials said in a New York Times opinion column.
Republicans on Wednesday pushed forward key elements of President Donald Trump’s budget package, including new and expanded work requirements for receiving Medicaid and benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the nation’s largest food aid program.
“Our agencies are united in a very straightforward policy approach: able-bodied adults receiving benefits must work, participate in job training or volunteer in their communities at least 20 hours a week,” said Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Housing Secretary Scott Turner, and Director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Mehmet Oz in the Wednesday column.
Democrats have said the eligibility changes will result in millions of people losing benefits.
“Instead of making the (SNAP) program work better for seniors and parents of children as young as seven years old, the Republican bill adds paperwork requirements to make accessing food harder,” said Angie Craig of Minnesota, ranking member on the House Agriculture Committee, after the committee voted along party lines on Wednesday night to advance its portion of the package.
The Trump administration officials said the work requirements will reduce dependency on federal welfare programs and are necessary to save taxpayer dollars.
“At the Departments of Agriculture, Health and Human Services and Housing and Urban Development, we are ready to implement work requirements,” they wrote. “As we do so, we will work hand in hand with Congress, states, communities and individuals to make this vision a permanent reality.”
Some Republicans have warned that cuts to programs for low-income Americans could erode public support and threaten their narrow House majority.
More than 41 million Americans receive SNAP food benefits and 71 million are covered by Medicaid, the federal health insurance program for low-income Americans.
(Reporting by Leah Douglas in WashingtonEditing by Bill Berkrot)
