Center for American Progress

Making the Jobless Hungrier Won’t Help Them Find Work Faster
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Making the Jobless Hungrier Won’t Help Them Find Work Faster

Authors Rebecca Vallas and Melissa Boteach argue that the U.S. Congress should stop kicking workers while they're down and reform the harsh time limits for jobless workers who need basic food assistance.

Making jobless people hungrier won’t help them find work any faster. But that’s the logic underpinning a counterproductive and harmful policy that is set to take effect in just a few weeks, pushing hundreds of thousands of jobless workers into even deeper hardship.

On April 1, more than half a million Americans may lose vital nutrition assistance due to a little known provision in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that imposes a harsh time limit for so-called “able-bodied adults without dependents” — individuals aged 18-49 who are out of work, not caring for children in their homes, and who don’t have a disability that rises to Social Security’s strict standards.

The above excerpt was originally published in InsideSources. Click here to view the full article.

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Authors

Rebecca Vallas

Senior Fellow

Melissa Boteach

Senior Vice President, Poverty to Prosperity Program