One result of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) is a reduction in the number of people receiving SNAP benefits, sometimes known as food stamps. According to Governing, there's been a 7.5% decrease in participation between July '25 and Jan '26.
This Act imposed work requirements because, at least in the eyes of the Trump administration, there was too much fraud. OBBBA expanded a work requirement to formerly exempt veterans, the homeless, people who’ve aged out of the foster care system, caregivers of children ages 14 or older, immigrants who are human trafficking victims and adults ages 55-64.
Has there been a concomitant 7.5% drop in unemployment claims? Not in Pa. Unemployment here has actually increased from 4.3% to 4.4%.
The tax-and-spend bill also accelerated the depletion of Social Security via targeted tax cuts.
ReplyDeleteTrump is a spendthrift, perhaps the worst in U.S. history.
Meanwhile the national debt approaches $40 trillion.
You’ve been had. Admit it.
These are the last 5 years of budget deficits, they pretty much haven’t changed:
DeleteFY 2025: ($1.78) trillionFY 2024: ($1.8) trillionFY 2023: ($1.7) trillionFY 2022: ($1.38) trillionFY 2021: \($2.77) trillionFY 2020: ($3.1) trillion (Largest in U.S. history due to COVID-19.
Trump is a big spender. So were Obama and Biden. To cut the deficit taxes will have to go up, and spending will have to be cut. Republicans will never raise taxes, and democrats will never cut anything no matter how wasteful or unneeded a program is. So here we are.
When you admit that some of that money is in fact helping illegals who should have never been allowed to be here. FACTS!!
DeleteWhen you admit that some of that money is in fact helping illegals who should have never been allowed to be here. FACTS!!
DeleteBernie do you have to work to qualify for your SNAP benefits ?
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, we're living through the most corrupt administration this country has ever seen in it's history
ReplyDelete4.4 % is full employment. Right now the BLS reports (JOLTS) that there are 6,866, 000 job openings in the country. Food Stamps should be a temporary helping hand. Maybe you should do a post about all the hospices that nobody ever dies at in LA county. Or maybe all the fraud in Minnesota.
ReplyDeleteDon't be silly. First there was no fraud in Minnesota and when it became undeniable, well they were handling it. Nothing to see there.
DeleteBummer. Maybe we shouldn't have let 20 million needy people into the country to manipulate the census. Too much too fast. Cry me a frickin river as I struggle to pay my taxes.
ReplyDeleteUnemployment rate has a lot of other factors than some people being thrown off SNAP, but for the record, your link shows 145K people lost SNAP benefits in PA over the time period they’re tracking. Presumably, a lot of these are children and therefore not in the workforce. PA employment statistics show that from April 2025 to April 2026, the number of jobs went up (6524K to 6607K) and the number of unemployed stayed about steady (272K to 276K). I don’t know if the PA unemployment statistics are like the US, where people not looking for work aren’t counted among the unemployment, but some would suspect that there’s a fair number of adult SNAP recipients that might fall in this category. At any rate, the number of people affected by cuts in SNAP benefits are dwarfed by the overall job statistics.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.pa.gov/agencies/dli/newsroom/pennsylvania-unemployment-rate-holds-steady-at-4-2-percent-in-ap
Anecdote: When I was in grad school, most of us accepted that we were in for several years of grunt work and wages. One or two guys discovered that their meager stipends made them eligible for Food Stamps (what SNAP used to be called). They had the exact same economic situation as everyone else (young, healthy, no kids, sharing apartments, etc.), but decided they “deserved” their benefits.
12:40 - And now we also pay for non profits to find people who “deserve” their benefits
DeleteThank you. Great example of the problems associated with entitlement and the system failures
DeleteSNAP benefits are important. Bob Brooks was on them, and today he’s a millionaire.
ReplyDeleteForget about SNAP benefits. I just saw that the democrats in NJ are pushing a bill to give a tax credit to pet owners.
ReplyDeleteImagine that you’re a working couple or a senior citizen trying to put food on your own table. Now the government wants to take more of your money to pay for other people’s pets.
Gotta hand it to the democrats, no matter how much they take it’s never enough. First they had to take your money to spread it around to other Americans. But that wasn’t enough so they had to take your money and spread it around to illegals as well. Now they want to expand that further, to include redistributing your money to those who are (supposedly) responsible enough to own pets.
Will democrats require proof of pet ownership (like a pet ID) to claim the credit? Will they allow undocumented pets to get the credits as well? What about illegal immigrants with undocumented pets? Will they be able to double dip?
Most importantly, will the voters who elect these idiots ever wake up?
Crazy!!!
DeleteFalse talking point. It is not “the Democrats.” It’s one goofball and the proposed bill is going nowhere.
DeleteThe sponsor of the bill is a Republican.
DeletePeople who shouldn't need assistance are sponging off the rest of us. Should someone with a law degree be getting any assistance? Of course not. It's immoral to squander so many gifts, and then expect others to carry you while so many go without.
ReplyDeleteWork requirements were enacted under the Clinton Administration too.
ReplyDeleteThat was part of the Clinton / Gingrich deal that stemmed the deficit a bit.
DeleteThe problem with requirements is they create bureaucracy just as “affordable housing” does.
Will they be worth it?
Maybe.
I don’t have a problem with work requirements. If a single mom has school age children and she’s on welfare I think 10 hours a week of community service isn’t too much to ask while the kids are in school. I like we have safety net programs for people going through tough times but it should be temporary, not a way of life and generational.
DeleteGood Luck changing that. It's so far ingrained in society. And only getting worse with the loony Left Socialists
DeleteShh you're not allowed to bring that up. Only bash the current administration.
DeleteWorked in SNAP for years, Fraud back then too but nothing like now or was had during COVID and now. Tara supposedly horrified by HRI
ReplyDelete- Big Beautiful Bill. God forbid we make people responsible.
No just suck it up and be a good little Socialist/Communist and don't worry about fraud cause you know we're all Billionaires.
DeleteFuck poor kids... now there's more money for War, and for the Ballroom
ReplyDeleteI think maybe you went the wrong way with this story. Keep it a little local. How about the northampton County employees that get benefits because Lamont refused to keep up with the cost of inflation. Working a full time job you should be able to support your family.
ReplyDelete