Food Stamp Work Rules: No Job Boost, Big Enrollment Drop

0:00It's April 14th. Anchorage News Today starts now. AI powered and ready. A new study from the Hamilton Project at Brookings Institution drops some real talk on food stamp work requirements. Researchers reviewed the evidence and found these rules don't boost employment at all. Instead, they just slash participation and snap. The program helping millions with groceries. States are rolling out these stricter rules right now. Thanks to last summer's big tax and policy law called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. It's cutting social programs like Medicaid and SNAP, ending exemptions for older folks, homeless people, veterans and rural residents. Counties have been sending notices, telling people to work or lose benefits. Enrollments are already tanking nationwide with at least 2.5 million low income folks, about 6% of participants, dropping off since. The law hit. Experts worry this mixes up anti-hunger help with job mandates, especially bad of a recession hits and laid off workers can't get quick food aid.

1:01Meanwhile, other changes pile on, no more funding for nutrition education, benefits cut for non-citizens like refugees and states lose waivers for. Job scares areas plus have to pay more themselves. A new report from the center on budget and policy priorities backs the big enrollment drop. USDA officials are cheering the roles, falling below 40 million for the first time since the pandemic, saying it targets real need and cuts waste. Republicans back at 2, pushing welfare reform and the dignity of work, but as states keep enforcing and recertifying, expect even more folks to feel, to squeeze.