Governor Nixon will continue allowing able-bodied adults to receive food stamp benefits without meeting work requirements, wasting a valuable opportunity to chart a more sustainable course for Missouri’s food stamp program.
A federal waiver currently permits able-bodied adults without children to obtain food stamps even if they do not work or train for employment. Nixon proposed limiting this exemption to adults in counties with unemployment rates over 10%. Healthy adults in other regions of the state would have to work twenty hours a week or enroll in a federally approved job training program to remain eligible.
The Governor, however, has reversed this decision, so the 58,000 able-bodied adults on food stamps will maintain their benefits without meeting any work requirements.
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The number of Missourians on food stamps has grown tremendously, from 724,000 in 2008 to 915,000 in 2013. Given our state’s finite resources, we have to prioritize serving our seniors, children, and those with disabilities.
The goal of any welfare program for able-bodied adults is to help recipients become financially independent so they can leave the program. Job training and work requirements are essential to ensuring that these adults do not become trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty.
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Nixon was right when he said that Missouri should limit the scope of the waiver since future federal funding is uncertain. The federal budget crisis has not been resolved, only postponed. Missouri will be better prepared to face budget cuts if we proactively strengthen the fiscal sustainability of our welfare programs.
Missouri has to use its taxpayer funds where they will do the most good, and I hope the Governor finds the political courage to shore up the food stamp program so it will be able to support the truly vulnerable for years to come.