USDA To Propose Rule to Tighten Job Requirements For People On Food Aid

OMAHA (DTN) -- USDA on Thursday will propose a rule to tighten job requirements and state rules around people on food aid who are classified as "able-bodied adults without dependents." USDA is attempting to implement, by rulemaking, a plan that got hung up in Congress, created a partisan divide in the House, was rejected in the Senate and eventually by the full Congress in adopting the 2018 farm bill. The move comes as comes as President Donald Trump is scheduled to sign the 2018 farm bill into law Thursday afternoon. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue indicated in a press call Wednesday that USDA's moves would save $15 billion over 10 years "and give President Trump comfort enough to support a farm bill he might otherwise have opposed." President Trump has repeatedly pushed for tighter SNAP work requirements through tweets and comments on the farm bill in the past several months. Those provisions failed to make it into the final farm bill, which passed both chambers of Congress last week with broad bipartisan support. Perdue told reporters Trump will sign the farm bill that reinforces the farm safety net, but Congress "missed an opportunity" to tighten the rules for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, so USDA will move ahead and do so itself. Perdue said the welfare reform mantra of the 1990s that federal handouts "are a second chance, not a way of life" has gotten worn down by "out of control" state flexibility standards under SNAP. With unemployment at 3.7% unemployment nationally -- the lowest since 1969 -- Perdue said it's reasonable to expect able-bodied people to look for work. Perdue and other USDA officials said the move will provide able-bodied adults without dependents more opportunities through work