Giving poor people no way to feed themselves and their families is always shameful. But doing so during a statewide recession, which Louisiana is in right now, is even more shameful.
For 19 years, Louisiana has received a waiver from requiring food stamp, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, recipients to work in order to receive this federally funded benefit, according to The Advocate.
The state would save no money in trying to curb the numbers of food stamp recipients because the program is federally funded.
However, Louisiana has had a waiver for 19 years precisely because its economy is in such poor shape. The state legislature’s chief economist Greg Albrecht said in February, “for all practical purposes, Louisiana is in its own recession. It’s come on pretty rapidly.”
You can’t tell people they need to get jobs when there aren’t any jobs in the state. Even before the recession, Louisiana has done a poor job developing resources to help the state’s disconnected workers.
The Center for Planning Excellence estimates nearly 50 percent of Louisiana’s working age adults are disconnected from employment because of structural barriers. Many of these workers lack the proper skills and transportation to seek or maintain employment.
In the Baton Rouge region, CPEX estimates 168,000 people are disconnected from employment. This is partially because our city and state don’t adequately fund job training efforts and transportation to connect people to jobs.
We’ve tried work requirements with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, which gives cash benefits to low-income people. The work requirement has failed to move people out of poverty, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Rather, all TANF has done with its work requirements is kicked families off welfare — it hasn’t moved many recipients into gainful employment.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, only 23 percent of TANF cases in Louisiana were closed because recipients moved into employment in 2013. Having work requirements for TANF hasn’t worked, so why would it magically work for SNAP?
If you want to move people out of poverty and into the workforce, invest in things that work, not things that feel good or are easy. I understand that kicking off people who are barely making ends meet feels right for conservatives, but that doesn’t make it good policy.
Instead, Louisiana should invest in public transportation and job training programs to move low-income people into gainful employment that will benefit their families. Before you talk about kicking SNAP recipients off the program, put your money where your mouth is.
Michael Beyer is a 22-year-old political science senior from New Orleans.