If Congress takes up this issue, it should also extend work requirements to other anti-poverty programs. Right now, food stamps and public housing lack strong work rules. Building on the success of such requirements is a cause that unites Rector, Haskins and even the liberal poverty expert Isabel Sawhill.
Haskins laments the current dispute: “A big part of the problem here is trust and faith, of which there is virtually none in Washington.” By acting unilaterally under a tortured interpretation of the law, the administration has made that problem worse.
It has also created a political vulnerability for the president. Work requirements are popular. Democrats suffered for decades because the electorate thought they were willing to spend money on a welfare system that asked little from beneficiaries in return for tax dollars, and as a consequence kept recipients dependent. In the middle of an election year, Democrats have now given voters a reason to wonder whether they have gone back to their bad old ways.
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