There’s an old saying about welfare programs in general: Liberals measure the success of a social welfare program by how many people are enrolled, while conservatives measure that success by the number of people who no longer need it. That certainly applies to things like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which purports to put healthy food on the tables of Americans who are lower on the economic scale. It doesn’t always work that way, though; like so many welfare programs, SNAP is subject to considerable abuse.
Here’s some evidence: As the Trump administration’s rather mild work requirements kicked in, SNAP enrollments have dropped, and they have dropped faster than expected. That’s a good thing; if people are dropping out of SNAP because they can’t be arsed to work a few hours a week, they didn’t really need it in the first place.
That’s not how the legacy media is spinning it.
Enrollment in the biggest federally funded food aid program in the U.S. dropped by more than 13% in a 12-month span — a decline far steeper than the government estimated as work requirements and other provisions of President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill” take hold.
Those losing coverage in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, include people who don’t meet the tightening requirements to participate, and, advocates say, some who qualify for the help but are rejected because they miss deadlines or don’t have the needed documentation handy. It’s too early to tell exactly how many fall into each group.
It’s also unclear how many have lost coverage because some state agencies that run the programs are overwhelmed trying to keep up with changes. That was the case in Arizona, which saw the nation’s largest enrollment drop.
I have little sympathy for people who are able-bodied and don’t want to work, or who miss deadlines. The work requirements aren’t that nasty; applicants between 18 and 64 have to register for work, participate in SNAP’s Employment and Training program, accept a job if one is offered, and not quit any job or drop weekly hours below 30. Now, I don’t know what the rest of the country is like, but in our towns and our one city (Anchorage) around here, almost every gas station and convenience store has Help Wanted signs up. And this isn’t a new thing; there have been work requirements for some time; the One Big Beautiful Bill just tightened things up some.