Imposing SNAP work requirements on older adults and doubling down on TANF work rules will increase hunger and deepen poverty

BOSTON, MA (May 30, 2023) — The debt-ceiling agreement expands failed work requirements for SNAP and TANF, jeopardizing access to food and basic income for tens of thousands of low income people in Massachusetts.

For decades, politicians have scapegoated low-income families and used denigrating stereotypes to promote laws that prevent vulnerable people from connecting to the help they need to survive. 

SNAP food benefits and TANF cash benefits are critical anti-poverty programs crucial to people’s health and wellbeing. By agreeing to expand harsh work requirements, the Biden Administration and Congress are resolving the debt ceiling crisis on the backs of people simply trying to make ends meet and put food on the table.  

Almost thirty years of evidence has shown that SNAP work requirements do not promote work and instead deny food benefits to vulnerable people. Going hungry does not help unemployed and underemployed people connect to work.

The agreement to expand on the failed SNAP work requirement policy will harm tens of thousands of Massachusetts residents. 

The TANF cash assistance program (called TAFDC in Massachusetts) has had unworkable work requirements since 1996. By doubling down on these failed work requirements, the debt-ceiling deal will make it harder for Massachusetts to meet the needs of our most vulnerable families with children, including families where the parent is disabled, has a young child, or is caring for a disabled family member. 

The deal reinforces the stereotype that families who rely on cash assistance are lazy. This messaging, with its racist subtext which suggests that families of color are particularly undeserving, disregards the needs of children whose parents cannot support them through work. This violates the core tenet of many in both red and blue states that every child’s life has value.

We are distressed to hear the Biden Administration and some Congressional leaders praising the debt-ceiling deal as a reasonable compromise without acknowledging its damage to vulnerable people. 

We urge the Massachusetts delegation to call out the harm to the programs people with low incomes need to survive.  

For statements from MLRI’s national colleagues, see Center on Budget and Policy Priorities statement and Food Research and Action Center statement.

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For more information:

Vicky Negus
vnegus@mlri.org | (857) 241-1723 

Deborah Harris
dharris@mlri.org  | (857) 241-1725