Brownback says states should restore work rules for food assistance

Gov. Sam Brownback says it’s time for other states to follow Kansas’ lead and reinstate work and job training requirements for food assistance.

In an op-ed piece Sunday in the Washington Times, Brownback and New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez urged states not to renew their waivers of such work requirements for able-bodied adults who don’t have dependent children.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been authorized since 1996 to grant work waivers for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in areas of high unemployment. States were allowed to do so in response to the latest deep recession.

“The personal toll of welfare dependency is a major reason work requirements are so important,” the Republican governors wrote. “We know that work helps people beyond just financial security; it also improves their sense of worth, dignity and even their physical health.”

Without the requirements in many states – generally that recipients work at least 20 hours a week or enroll in a job training program – the cost of federal food assistance has skyrocketed, they said.

“The states that have reinstated their work requirements, such as Kansas and Maine, are already seeing very positive results,” Brownback and Martinez wrote, noting that Indiana and New Mexico are making the same move. Kansas and Maine, they wrote, “saw a substantial drop in their unemployment rates after restoring their work requirements, and charity organizations in Maine are enjoying extremely high levels of volunteerism.”

This story was originally published August 31, 2015 at 5:48 PM with the headline "Brownback says states should restore work rules for food assistance."