The Real Fake News

The other day I was speaking with a Trump supporter friend of mine who was celebrating how Trump was finally doing something about what he referred to as “the dead beats on welfare” by implementing a work requirement to receive SNAP benefits.  He lamented the fact that it was long over do.

My friend was referring to the implementation of the welfare assistance requirement that any non-disabled adult, between the ages of 18 and 49, with no dependents, receiving SNAP benefits be required to work a minimum of 20 hours per week, or be enrolled in a job training program or in school. Failure to do any of these would result in termination of benefits after three months.

Once again my friend was so consumed by the FOX News Trump propaganda that he was totally unaware of the fact that such a requirement has been in place since 1996. Of course he didn’t believe me and accused me of espousing “fake news,” but after he Googled it he apologized.

His Google search also found that built into the 1996 SNAP work requirement was an exception that allowed states to forgo the requirement if their unemployment rate was so high that the likely hood of even finding a part time job was remote. 

   

Additionally, my friend being a staunch conservative has regularly professed how our Constitution should be followed to the letter of the law, and that the previous administration always ignored that fact.  I pointed out that the present administration was not much better and used his current misinformed argument about the SNAP work requirement as an example. 

 In 2018 both houses of Congress by overwhelming bipartisan votes (87 vs 13 in the Senate, and 369 vs 47 in the House) renewed the SNAP funding and left in place the waiver that the states can invoke.  Please remember that both houses of Congress at that time were controlled by the Republicans.

However, in typical monarchial fashion President Trump has decided to intentionally disregard the democratic principles stated in our Constitution and ignore the mandate of Congress by directing his Secretary of Agriculture, whose department is charged with implementing SNAP, to disregard the state waiver clause when funding the states.  Staunch constitutionalist? Don't think so

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I laughed when I reminded my friend of the old adage “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”