Trump Cuts Food Stamps and Disability Aid

President Trump has set his sights on cutting down government spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides food stamps, and Social Security’s disability program. The new budget is set to cut $192 billion over 10 years from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and $70 billion from the disability program. Trump plans to make such cuts to the budget by making it more difficult to attain such benefits and expanding a work requirement for “able-bodied” people.

Mick Mulvaney, the White House’s budget director and the budget cut’s leader, states, “We need people to work. If you’re on food stamps, and you’re able bodied, we need you to go to work. If you’re on disability insurance, and you’re not supposed to be-if you’re not truly disabled, we need you to go back to work.” Trump and his team believe that this move, in the long run, will be beneficial for former assistance receivers as it moves the poor from dependency on the government to work and from there true economic success.

There is a belief that attaining such benefits has become too easy. Before the Great Recession of 2008, there were 28 million beneficiaries of food stamps. By 2013, food stamp beneficiaries had skyrocketed to 48 million and is now at 44 million. Similar statistics show the large increase in disability beneficiaries from six million in 1996 to nine million in 2008 to 11 million in 2016.

The administration believes that with the improvement in the economy since 2008 and the number of people nearing the natural rate of unemployment, there should be a dramatic reduction in the amount of people receiving benefits. The fact that the amount of people receiving benefits remains too high is an indication that people are abusing the system and that perhaps it is too easy to attain benefits. John Northdurft, director of government relations at the Heartland Institute, agrees with the Trump administration’s plan. He states, “you need to make sure people on the programs taking in these benefits are actually eligible. So the more we can get rid of waste, fraud and abuse, the better we can help people who actually do need assistance.”

The federal government requires some adults with dependents to work or show proof of 20 hours a week of searching for a job in order to receive food stamps. The new proposal will make more people with children and those who are older than 49 be required to work for assistance as well. Those on such assistance programs are worried about these new regulations and fight against the misconception that receiving benefits are easy.

While Trump’s plan requires all “able-bodied” people to work, some people who have no physical ailment live with crippling mental health disabilities which prevent them from working. Those with mental health disabilities claim that it is already extremely difficult to attain benefits, many applying several times and being denied for years.
Beth Orlansky, advocacy director of the Mississippi Center for Justice, comments on how in theory asking people to work for assistance sounds like a good idea. However, in places like Mississippi where there are huge communities living in poverty and a large rural population, jobs are not available. She explains how most people on food stamps and disability do some sort of work, but it is not enough to get by. Areas with large amounts of the population requesting food stamps need better skills and education in order to rise above poverty wages. This indicates changes to the education system in America and investment in rural areas to create jobs rather than cutting funding to assistance programs.

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