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This is part of a broader pattern of the Trump administration to use administrative burdens to limit access to welfare. All the evidence suggests it will not facilitate work, but will limit access to a program that has dramatic positive effects for poor families & society 1/
As we write here, its impossible to understand Trump policymaking without understanding their embrace of administrative burdens, such as work requirements 2/
washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-c…
washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-c…
There is quite good evidence that administrative burdens will make SNAP harder to access. After it was delinked from cash benefits after welfare reform, the use of SNAP plummeted, as potential recipients struggled with new learning and compliance costs 3/ 
There is also growing evidence that state adoption of work requirements for Medicaid leads to poor people losing health insurance. Not because they are not working, but because they struggle to overcome the reporting requirements (thread). 4/
So, SNAP work requirements will make some poor people poorer. Why should you care? Well, if you are a Trump-supporting conservative, one reason is that people who live in your community are more likely to be hurt. 5/ washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2…
Multiple studies show that kids facing food insecurity have higher health problems and poorer educational performance.
Kids with access to SNAP do better in school. Can't we all agree that giving kids a fair opportunity to learn is a good thing? 6/
Kids with access to SNAP do better in school. Can't we all agree that giving kids a fair opportunity to learn is a good thing? 6/
SNAP also has long-term positive effect on health and economic outcomes even decades later, thereby saving taxpayer dollars. 6/ nber.org/papers/w18535
SNAP also reduces recidivism, thereby improving community safety and reducing criminal justice costs. Former inmates, of course are going to be adversely affected by work requirements because they face more labor market discrimination. 7/
The Trump administration (with support from think tanks like AEI) has undertaken a concerted effort to make the case that work requirements are evidence-based. But its a case that does not hold up to much scrutiny 8/ threadreaderapp.com/thread/1023263…
The desire for work requirements is not evidence-based, if by evidence-based we assume some rational calculation of benefits and costs of reducing access to the safety net. It is something deeper: a normative objection to the safety net itself. 9/
All of the evidence cited above shows how the safety net allows citizens to make better choices - in health, education, economic self-sufficiency - in their personal lives. Those choices benefit the rest of us. 10/
Accepting the evidence that the safety net works is hard if you are ideologically attuned to seeing it as a "hammock" fostering a "culture of dependency."
Then you can convince yourself of the perverse rationale that making peoples lives harder is actually helping them. 11/
Then you can convince yourself of the perverse rationale that making peoples lives harder is actually helping them. 11/
This thread is already too long, but let me conclude by noting that today (April 2) is the last day for public comment on this topic.
If you have an opinion on work requirements for SNAP, here is where you can make sure your government hears it: 12/ federalregister.gov/documents/2019…
If you have an opinion on work requirements for SNAP, here is where you can make sure your government hears it: 12/ federalregister.gov/documents/2019…
