9K Off Of Food Stamps After Maine Begins Work Requirements

9,000 of the 12,000 Food Stamp recipients dropped once they were required to "work". People that have disabilities or dependents were exempt from the work requirement. Sounds like it is a good idea and shows that many would rather not collect food stamps than work. That is a 75% drop from the Food Stamp roles.....pretty significant. I have no issue with someone getting food stamps if they need them, but apparently 75% of those in Maine really did not need them.

http://cnsnews.com/blog/eric-scheiner/9k-food-stamps-after-maine-begins-work-requirements

 

Good move by Maine. It should be this way in all states. Help is there for you, in return you give something back to earn it, just like the people footing your bill with their labor and tax dollars.

 

Shocked, I tells ya....shocked=) It's not like most intelligent people haven't known this from the start. The vast majority of people on some sort of welfare are more than capable of working. But why work when Liberals will give you free food, free phones, free internet, free TVs and free rent for sitting on your a$$.....as long as you vote for them every 4 years.

 

Would love to hear the progressives lie their way out of this one. As Obama struggles so hard to give more away (buy votes).

 

The title of this thread is misleading. All this program is doing is cutting people off food stamps, including students and people who don't do volunteering.It's not about getting people jobs. I bet it's putting more people on welfare.

 

Where does it say that the program was about getting people jobs? To me it appears that Maine is basically saying that if a person is able body and does not have dependents to support, then they must either work at a job or do volunteer work for at least 20 hours a week. If a person does not have a steady job, it should not be a problem to volunteer somewhere for 20 hours a week. I can see where this might be an issue with college students, but not an insurmountable obstacle.

 

The title of this thread ("Work requirements").

 

Yes, work (or volunteer) is required.

 

This is how SNAP is by default. You must work 20 hours a week to be on the SNAP program. If certain states allow otherwise then they're paying out of their own pocket. I just wish more states would consider a full time student as working.

 

They should require work in able to get any type of welfare. Of course those not able would be exempt.

 

So... How do you explain that one? Lol

 

Even for the college students... If they want it, they can earn it. I'd hate to see how they would have made it back before the government was so giving with my hard earned money.

 

I agree. Though I do think there should be allowed a 3-4 month gap. If you lose your job you're given that long to qualify for welfare programs to help you fund your basic needs. Extensions can be given in times of economic turmoil but for the most part I think you should have to be working.

Like I said I only have trouble with states not considering fulltime school to be work. 12 + credit hours is just as tough if not tougher than a 20 hour/week job.

 

Who "don't do volunteering"? LOL I probably volunteer twenty hours a week on top on my full time job.

If you do not work, you do not eat.

 

It is actually a 4.25% overall drop on the rolls in Maine. It is a 75% drop of folks within a very minute category, but this "work requirement" did not apply to nearly 95% of folks on the SNAP program.

http://www.themainewire.com/2015/03/9000-mainers-food-stamps/

In 2013, Maine had one of the highest food stamp participation rates in the country, and was behind only Oregon and Mississippi in percentage of people utilizing the program.

But according to the most recent data from the USDA, Maine had about 211,513 people participating in the food stamp program in December 2014, which is a more than 10% decrease from December 2013.

This most recent drop of 9,000 participants represents another 4.25% decrease in the Maine program’s overall size.

 

I am a full time student as are many of our friends and we all manage to fit in 20 hours or more in some cases a week. I know engineering students who work 20-30 a week and that is the most rigorous degree to get by far.

 

Will you be talking tough when you retire and start collecting your pension? Did you put food on the table when you were twelve years old. Your post is nonsense.

 

Good for them. I know people who can too. I also know people with ADHD, people coming from low education families, people with dyslexia and others who just need extra time for their studies. All I'm saying is 12 credit hours is roughly equal to 20 hours of work. And all things equal they should see the same qualification for SNAP. They're working just as hard.

 

That would entirely depend on the degree. If you are talking about mathematics and sciences degrees then yes that is a lot of work. If you are talking about bull(*)(*)(*)(*) degrees like JAMS or "education" degrees then its not even close to 20 hours a week of work. Most of the people that take those courses spend more time outside of work or school partying or goofying off than studying.

Most people don't have ADHD or dyslexia. If you can prove you have a condition that increases the amount of study time you need then I might be open to having allowances for that but most people don't have that issue. Besides dyslexia is easy to fix. They just need to use the same badly translated books from India/Asia that ITTech uses that are rife with grammatical and spelling errors. The letters will most likely reform to the correct positions if a dyslexic read them.

 

I worked when I was twelve. As for the pension, I am earning that as I live in my younger age.

So why should someone who "doesn't do volunteering" be handed free money?

 

I would also think most people can work more than 20 hours a week. But not everyone can. That's the point. The whole point of the work requirement is to make sure lazy people aren't taking advantage of the program. If you're in college full time you're not a lazy person.

 

This is about able bodied people that can work. Not people collecting pension or still living with their parents. C'mon man.

 

I would not disagree with this as long as those not able to are exempt

I was on food stamps for awhile when younger and it's a lot of work and a pain in the but to get them, but for those that need it, it's a life saver

I would give a time frame, like 90 days no work requirement.... many rich "adult" kids use food stamps to supplement their allowance, you know they will drop this in a hurry if required to work

I think they should run cross checks of the SSN's against the taxable gifts of the parents to see if they are also receiving more then 14k a year as that should count as income when applying for food stamps....

the other group falling off this list I am sure is those working under the table..... they can't work cause they already work, they just don't want to pay taxes on it.... and want free stuff on top of it

.

 

This is something I can really agree with, it works both ways. And yes as long as you are trying and have a job, if you need help I have no problem with some government assistance being pushed in that direction.

Wanna be a lazy ass and not even volunteer a little of your time? Get lost and don't come back until your able bodied ass decides to do something with your life.

 

First: CNS is just one more outlet of the right wing noise machine

Second: LePage is just another sleazoid Republican who doesn't give a crap about the people of his state

Third: The "article" was totally misleading:

Well. Imagine that - not enough jobs or volunteer positions. But, hey - suppose you ARE doing what they wanted? Doesn't matter:

And here's the kicker:

So, Maine dumps all of these people off the food benefit program, many of them with no good reason, then tells them to kiss off for three years when they want to be reinstated. Dang. Gotta love them 'publican cost saving measures and dumping all over those at the bottom of the economic ladder. What a pack of loathsome hyenas.