In the News

Today, 90 percent of Americans believe that able-bodied adults receiving welfare assistance should be required to work or prepare for work. As the House and Senate work to reconcile their two different versions of the Farm Bill in conference committee, the reforms to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) program in the House-passed version are an important first step toward meaningful welfare reform and should be included in the final bill.

This is by no means the end of the work that needs to be done. Congress also should consider bolder proposals like Rep. Garret Graves' (R-La.) SNAP Reform Act of 2017 (H.R. 2996), which would reduce poverty and government dependency, increase self-sufficiency, and restore families by strengthening work requirements for all able-bodied adults without dependents who receive food stamps.

Food stamp recipients have increased at an alarming rate, and so has spending for the program. It's time that we begin to refocus the program on pulling people out of poverty.

— Colleen Waugh, Chico