Former Freedom Caucus Chair Jim Jordan Calls for Welfare Reform in Budget Proposal

Former Freedom Caucus Chair Jim Jordan called for welfare reform in the Republicans’ 2018 budget proposal.

At a Heritage Foundation event on Friday, Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH) chided the current talks of the House budget negotiations. Jordan said, “Right now a budget cannot pass in the House.”

“What we’re talking about putting forward is this: Maybe we can live with a higher budget number if in fact we do real welfare reform on the tax bill,” Jordan added.

Alyssa Farah, the spokeswoman for the Freedom Caucus, explained that many other members of the caucus would sign onto a budget compromise if House leadership included welfare reforms in the budget.

Many in Freedom Caucus wd be willing to accept higher budget # if welfare reform included in tax reform https://t.co/XvU22IyOJ6

— Alyssa Farah (@Alyssafarah) June 9, 2017

Jordan tweeted an article that shows that Alabama saw an 85 percent drop after they implemented work requirements for able-bodied adults without children.

13 Alabama counties saw 85 percent drop in food stamp participation after work requirements restarted https://t.co/j7v7UquE1o

— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) June 6, 2017

Congressman Jim Jordan previously sponsored H.R. 5360, the Welfare and Upward Mobility Act of 2016, a bill to reform the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), otherwise known as food stamps. The bill would require work requirements for able-bodied adults and establish a time limit for how long citizens can stay on the program.

Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH), another Freedom Caucus member, said that Congress should address mandatory spending programs such as entitlements, which are not subject to yearly appropriations bills. Davidson explained that entitlements are growing at a much faster rate than the average discretionary spending programs that Congress passes every year. The Ohio representative warned that without work requirements, President Trump will have trouble achieving three or four percent growth.

Breitbart News previously reported that Georgia saw a 62 percent drop after they implemented work requirements in many counties across the state.

Maine implemented work requirements for able-bodied adults to seek gainful employment, participate in job training, or volunteer for community service at least 24 hours per month. The number of food stamp recipients dropped by 80 percent. Roughly 9,000 people dropped out of the program, leading many analysts to observe that many of those food stamp recipients worked off the books and used food stamps to save money for other expenses. Others stipulated that many became so dependent on government welfare that they could not volunteer 24 hours a month, or roughly one hour of work per day.

President Donald Trump’s 2018 budget will save $190 billion by requiring able-bodied adults to work to receive food stamps.

Chairman Mark Meadows estimated that Jordan’s work requirements could save $400 billion to help offset the president’s proposed tax cuts.

“The idea is if you’re able-bodied, you can’t be living on the taxpayer, getting help from the taxpayer, forever,” the Ohio congressman said following the Heritage panel.