Our View

Our View

‘Will work for food stamps?’

We’ve all heard the old saying, “I’ll work for food.”

Well, how about, “I’ll work for food stamps?”

While our Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson is aggressively attempting to make the thousands of Arkansans dependent upon government aid, government health benefits and other government subsidies more responsible, it just might not be such a bad idea to require able-bodied adults to put in work hours in exchange for food stamps.

Now we know the liberals among us, particularly the liberal career politicians who gladly waste our tax dollars on ineffective social programs, would consider this unfair, inhumane, unconstitutional, discriminatory and simply just not politically correct.

Speaking of socialistic liberals, let’s not forget that it was the Obama administration that suspected the requirements for able-bodied adults to get a job and get off the public dole.

The slow-moving reversal by many states shows a change from the liberal Obama socialistic approach to governing the peasant class. This giveaway, and do nothing approach to wasting our tax dollars, came about during the last recession back in 2007 when no other than Obama allowed states to suspend a requirement that able-bodied adults without children work at least 20 hours per week or participate in a training program to receive benefits for more than three months.

Obama allowed welfare recipients to stay on food stamps indefinitely, arguing the three-month maximum was unfair with unemployment at 10 percent.

Unemployment today is half of what it was in 2009, yet last year more than 40 states did not require welfare recipients to work.

It makes absolutely no common sense to allow ablebodied adults without children not to be more responsible for their lives. They don’t have children in the home, they’re not elderly, they’re not disabled and they need to work.

Listen folks, welfare aid, food stamps and all the scores of other government subsidies that are out there should be used for necessities.

As we all know, Gov. Hutchinson is working diligently on revamping the state’s subsidized health care as well as many of the scores of programs within the Arkansas Department of Human Services. In his call for change within the state’s version of Obamacare Hutchinson is wanting able-bodied individuals to receive job training and work toward obtaining gainful employment.

Hutchinson believes the managed-care plan he is presenting to lawmakers for approval is “the best plan to achieve the savings we’re looking to achieve.”

According to The Stephen Group, a Manchester, New Hampshire-based consulting firm, Hutchinson’s plan would reduce growth of Medicaid spending by $1.4 billion over fire years. That savings will be needed to absorb the additional costs for providing free and subsidized health care to the more than 260,000 Arkansans enrolled in the program. Beginning next year Arkansas will be required to pick up a percentage of what the federal government is now providing the state.

Without such savings, the governor says drastic cuts would be required from every state agency to make up the difference.