A.G. Gancarski
SNAP benefits would return to their pre-pandemic levels if a new bill from the wealthiest individual in the U.S. Senate becomes law. However, the sponsor, Sen. Rick Scott, insists the revamp is not really a cut and, in the end, a net-positive for the recipients.
The Republican from Naples on Tuesday promoted his Let’s Get to Work Act. This would, a spokesperson for his office stresses, “revert the program back to the pre-pandemic standard.”
The Senator, his office contends, does not see the net effect of the bill as a reduction of benefits because active job seekers would remain eligible.
This legislation would “encourage Americans who are able to work to return to the workforce by ending the current suspension of work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which was put in in place during the pandemic, and expanding these requirements to apply to all able-bodied adults receiving benefits who are under 60-years-old and do not have children under the age of six or care for incapacitated individuals.”
Currently, those 50 years of age or older qualify for these benefits.
The same conditions would apply to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Public Housing and Tenant-Based Rental Assistance programs.
“For too long, the Left has waged a war on work. That needs to end today. Policies put in place during the pandemic to pay people more to sit at home than go back to work are the radical Left’s latest and boldest move to boost government dependency. If we let it go on, it will ruin our country,” Scott contends.
Passing this legislation would help “get America back on track and leave the disastrous social and economic policies of Joe Biden and the radical leftists in power in the past where they belong,” Scott adds.
This proposed legislation is endorsed by Heritage Action and Club for Growth.
Scott has taken heat, even on the right, for proposals that would seek to extract more money from lower income Americans, such as his contention that they should pay income tax to demonstrate they have “skin in the game.”
“Here’s what’s unfair: We have people that don’t, that couldn’t go to work and have figured out how to have government pay their way. That’s not right! They ought to have some skin in the game,” Scott said on Fox News Sunday in March.
Scott’s office says the bill expands grace periods “from 3 months in a 3-year window to 6 months in a 3-year period to account for the added complexities in these households,” and that it also “addresses the marriage penalty for married couples with children, only requiring one to work for the household to remain eligible for benefits.”
Scott’s proposals would take effect at a time when the dollar’s decline is being felt across the board, from fuel and food to housing and utility prices.
In Democrat-controlled Washington, however, it is unlikely this proposal becomes law.
7 comments
PeterH
June 21, 2022 at 4:22 pm
33% of Florida residents live below the poverty level.
Rick Scott states:
For the sake of the Republican Party poor Americans should voluntarily starve themselves to death.
Vincent Inman
June 22, 2022 at 2:55 pm
Anything that comes out of Rick Scott’s mouth is a scam.
Mark Anderson
June 22, 2022 at 4:46 pm
At least he’s talking instead of drinking the fifth 76 times. As trump says only the guilty take the fifth.
ChaChi
June 23, 2022 at 8:31 am
As bad as Scott’s lies are, they pale in comparison to this sham piece that doesn’t even seek out an opposing voice to expose the ridiculousness of this right-wing babble. Pro tip: Reprinting press releases isn’t journalism.
Just a comment
June 28, 2022 at 3:22 pm
Why don’t Rick revamp the right to have placement in a job world
Just a comment
June 24, 2022 at 2:44 pm
Paying someone’s salary through taxes is not skin man it is dept. And this overgrown fla is one big one
Lynda
July 5, 2022 at 11:56 am
Another Scott “skin in the game” con. Most people receiving SNAP benefits would love to find a job they could physically do as well as child care which would allow them to hold a job.
Other concerns such as discounts on public transportation from low income housing to where jobs and childcare are located are also important. Scott has most likely never held a minimum wage job (like most of us during our teens and working to pay for our college in addition to scholarships earned in high school). He could not read or use a bus schedule to save his life and has not been without a car and driver since he was a baby.
Hey Scott, ask one of the staff members in your senate office (salary paid by taxpayers) to do some research about the financial circumstances of your constituents. You will find out not every one of them has/had a family willing to leave them a hospital system ripe for Medicare fraud which will fund their races for governor and senator. Some people have to actually work for their money.
Hold a non-by-invite-only series of town halls in areas where people receive SNAP benefits. Don’t just visit the Villages or fill your town halls with only your supporters. Do some research before you tell voters about this “skin in the game” nonsense which actual qualifiers for SNAP right now have serious barriers to this safety net program.
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