Biden signed a contentious debt ceiling agreement that slashed federal spending and introduced new job requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in order to prevent the country from sliding into default .
Republican legislators made concessions that raised the age at which SNAP recipients would have to show proof of employment to 54 years old; anti-hunger campaigners claim that this move will be harmful for older persons who will lose their eligibility.
Work Requirements for SNAP Recipients
But, the agreement makes a few exceptions to the new regulation, exempting veterans, those who are homeless, and young adults (18 to 24) who were previously in foster care.
The agreement is the most recent thing to effect SNAP, which was previously affected earlier this year when Congress stopped giving the program emergency funding during the epidemic, which had an impact on more than 41 million Americans.
In order to be eligible for SNAP benefits, able-bodied persons between the ages of 18 and 49 who were single and without children had to demonstrate that they were engaged in a job training program or that they worked at least 80 hours per week.
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Small Ransom Paid to Free Hostage, Limited Concessions Made
The debt ceiling was held hostage by House Republicans, but Speaker Kevin McCarthy decided to release the hostage in exchange for a nominal ransom.
The agreement reached by the representatives of President Biden and Senator McCarthy, which has since been approved by both houses of Congress, does not significantly alter American public policy.
Spending on domestic programs will effectively be held at current levels thanks to the White House’s ability to prevent drastic cuts (though a cut when accounting for inflation).
Yet when it came to a number of other policy matters, where Republicans had made strong demands, Democrats only made a small number of concessions.
Progressives do not agree with several of the policy changes in the agreement; for example, they would prefer that domestic spending not be reduced at all and they object to the increased job requirements for food stamp recipients aged 50 to 54.
But it’s not clear that Republicans’ use of the debt ceiling as a negotiating tool even got them anything they wouldn’t have won later if you remember that Democrats and Republicans were always going to have to negotiate over spending levels at some point this year (to avoid a government shutdown this fall).
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