Just hours before a final vote on an agreement to avert a national default, House Republican leaders are hoping to stave off another wave of GOP defections, this time over the work requirements for aid programmes that Republican leaders have publicly hailed as a success for their party.
The latest uprising was sparked by a report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) published on Tuesday night that found spending on the food aid programme would increase under the agreement reached between Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden, despite Republican efforts to cut the programme during the debt ceiling negotiations. This has sparked a furor among conservative legislators, who now fear a more widespread revolt within their already divided caucus in the final hours before the bill to raise the debt ceiling and prevent a default is voted on. McCarthy nonetheless looked ready to push the package through the House later Wednesday with the support of Democratic votes, despite the growing anger on the right side of his caucus over the GOP concessions.
The White House advocated for new exemptions from work requirements for veterans, the homeless, and people ageing out of the foster care system, and these provisions were included in the deal to raise the debt ceiling. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that $2.1 billion will be added to the cost of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme as a result of the series of modifications to employment requirements.
One Republican House member who expected to vote “no” on the package texted from the private House GOP caucus meeting shortly after the CBO assessment dropped on Tuesday night: “This is going to hurt with fiscal conservatives.”
Text messages, emails, and phone calls from already agitated rank-and-file members skyrocketed as news of the CBO report’s conclusions circulated. Concerned Republicans were referred to Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), who has been active in the negotiations and has helped advance the work requirements policy. Some key Republicans said Dusty has the solutions.
Some conservative lawmakers remained unconvinced despite efforts by House Republican leaders and McCarthy friends to immediately calm the situation by contacting them late at night to argue that the CBO forecasts were inaccurate. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), one of the most vocal opponents of the debt deal, attacked the bill’s “watered down work requirements that save $0” on Twitter on Wednesday morning. Representative Nancy Mace (R-SC) took to Twitter to express her opposition to expanding government assistance, writing, “won’t be voting to expand government welfare today.”
Two Republican legislators, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal party concerns, expressed concern that the CBO prediction may “push members over the edge” or be used as “cover” to oppose a package that is extremely unpopular among several dozen GOP hardliners.
GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and a lineup of more than half a dozen heavy-hitting senior Republicans quickly assembled a call with reporters to argue the CBO score used “weak information” and double-counted the number of homeless people, veterans, and young people ageing out of foster care who would be covered for the first time under the deal.
The bill’s work requirements, according to Stefanik, “will lift millions of Americans out of poverty and reenergize the workforce.” These criteria include tougher ones for those aged 50 to 54 without children.
When asked about the CBO’s final financing estimate of the SNAP reforms, G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.), the chair of the House Committee on Agriculture, claimed it “should’ve been a wash.”
Republicans in Congress have a long-standing dispute with CBO over the agency’s score of spending and participation in nutrition programmes, but in agreeing to the exclusions sought by White House negotiators, they took a calculated risk with CBO analysts. Johnson also responded to Democratic claims that tying food stamps to job requirements does nothing to encourage people to enter the workforce. Johnson and the other Republicans on the call did admit, though, that helping some populations financially before they are able to leave the programme and enter the workforce could increase costs on the “front end.”
On the call, some Republicans defended the White House’s success in negotiating an exception from the labour requirement for former foster youngsters.
One of the Republicans who helped negotiate the compromise, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), told reporters on Wednesday that he generally agreed with some of the exclusions sought for by Democrats, and that the United States needs “more thoughtful public policy for those who are emerging from foster care.”
“Those of us who know something about foster care are deeply concerned about this,” McHenry added.
Despite widespread opposition from Democrats, McCarthy has pointed to the new work requirements and other restrictions for SNAP and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families as a major win for Republicans in the debt negotiations with Biden. Particularly vulnerable would be low-income families with children as a result of TANF reforms.
The new work requirements for SNAP and TANF would have never passed through a Democratic-majority Senate on their own and had to be forced through in the agreement with Biden, according to two lawmakers who were in the room and were granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations. This was made clear by McCarthy in a closed-door caucus meeting on Tuesday evening.
Although an estimated 275,000 childless adults in their 50s stand to lose food aid under the deal, White House negotiators knew the exemptions from the work requirement they secured during negotiations with Republicans would mean the total number of people covered under SNAP would likely remain the same. In their efforts to win over enough Democrats to pass their package, White House officials have been pressing that argument relentlessly with Hill Democrats.
However, the effort has not been welcomed by all Democratic legislators.
This is a stipend for food. To me, it’s not a very compelling argument to just shift the deck chairs about and say, “You get food, but you don’t.” Leading House anti-hunger advocate Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said as much in an interview on Tuesday. Given the enormous logistical challenge of signing up several hundred thousand new claimants, many of whom are unhoused and without papers, some politicians and anti-hunger groups are sceptical that the predictions on new SNAP beneficiaries, on paper, will truly bear out in reality.
Even if other vulnerable groups are able to get expanded access, Democrats in the Senate are still concerned about the loss of food help for hundreds of thousands of low-income Americans under the agreement.
Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, said the bill was “incredibly bad” in an interview and that Republicans were trying to force a default so they could starve children if they didn’t get their way. Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who leads the SNAP subcommittee, has apparently vowed to vote against any legislation that might negatively affect the programme.
Fetterman’s office stated he “requests more information on both SNAP and Pennsylvania-related impacts while reviewing the debt limit legislation.”
Democrats in the House are still seeking to remove the employment requirements for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme (SNAP), but they have no prospect of success.
In an interview on Tuesday, key swing vote Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) stated he opposes voting on any amendments in the Senate. (It also helps safeguard a crucial pipeline measure he included.) In the event that the Senate takes up a SNAP amendment. Despite having informed AWN he backs welfare to work reform, Manchin is likely to vote against it. The bill is expected to pass the Senate even if some progressives ultimately vote against it. It would only need a dozen or so votes from Senate Democrats to pass the debt deal if most Republicans supported it.
