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Polling indexes: Opinion polling during the Trump administration

Federal social welfare programs are taxpayer-funded programs designed to provide financial aid to individuals or groups who are unable to support themselves. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Housing Choice Voucher Program, and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) are major assistance programs in the United States. These are considered non-contributory programs because an individual does not directly pay into a program to receive aid. Individuals receive aid from these programs based on need. In comparison, individuals pay into Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, and worker’s compensation through payroll taxes in order to receive assistance. These are typically called entitlement programs.^[1][2]

This page tracked major events and policy positions of the Trump administration on social welfare programs from 2017 and 2018. This page was updated through 2018. Think something is missing? Please email us at editor@ballotpedia.org.

For information about federal policy on Social Security and Medicaid, click here and here.

June 28, 2018: Senate passes farm bill

On June 28, 2018, the Senate passed the $867 billion farm bill by a vote of 86-11. The five-year bill proposed providing funding for commodity support, conservation, trade and international food aid, nutrition assistance, farm credit, rural development, research and extension activities, forestry, horticulture, and crop insurance. The main difference between the Senate and House versions of the bill was that the Senate version did not include a proposal to modify the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps, to require most able-bodied adults between the ages of 18 and 59 without young children to work at least 20 hours a week to receive SNAP benefits. The Senate bill also proposed making administrative changes to the SNAP program to prevent fraud. The bill was then sent to a conference committee where legislators worked to develop a compromise bill. Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said, "We know conference committee is going to be a wild and woolly debate as we go forward on a number of things."^[3]

GOP Sens. Richard Burr (N.C.), Bob Corker (Tenn.), Tom Cotton (Ark.), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Dean Heller (Nev.), James Inhofe (Okla.), Ron Johnson (Wis.), James Lankford (Okla.), Mike Lee (Utah), Rand Paul (Ky.), and Pat Toomey (Pa.) voted against the bill.^[4]

June 21, 2018: House passes farm bill

On June 21, 2018, the House voted 213-211 to approve HR 2—the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018. No Democrats voted in favor of the five-year farm bill. Twenty Republicans joined Democrats in opposition to the bill. The legislation proposed reauthorizing U.S. Department of Agriculture programs dealing with commodity support, conservation, farm credit, and crop insurance, among other things. The bill also included provisions expanding work requirements and eligibility rules for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, previously known as the food stamp program. These provisions proposed requiring non-disabled adults who were not responsible for children aged six or younger to work at least 20 hours per week in order to retain eligibility.^[5]

Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Tex.), chair of the House Agriculture Committee, said, "Today's vote was about keeping faith with the men and women of rural American and about the enduring promise of the dignity of a day's work. It was about providing certainty to farmers and ranchers who have been struggling under the weight of a five-year recession and about providing our neighbors in need with more than just a handout, but a hand up."^[6]

Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee said, "The only upside to its passage is that we’re one step closer to conference, where it’s my hope that cooler heads can and will prevail. The Senate’s version isn’t perfect, but it avoids the hardline partisan approach that House Republicans have taken here today, and if it passes, I look forward to working with conferees to produce a conference report both parties can support, which is the only way to get a farm bill enacted."^[7]

On June 28, 2018, the Senate voted 86-11 to approve an amended version of the legislation, which removed House provisions expanding work requirements and eligibility rules for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. On July 18, 2018, the House voted to go to conference with the Senate in an attempt to reconcile the differences between the two bills.^[7][8]

May 18, 2018: House rejects farm bill

On May 18, 2018, by a vote of 198-213, the House rejected a five-year, $867 billion farm bill that included agricultural subsidies for farmers and funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps, among other things.^{[9][10][11][5][12]}

Thirty Republicans, mostly members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus and some moderate Republicans, joined every Democrat to oppose the bill. Freedom Caucus members voted against the bill because of a disagreement over immigration reform legislation with GOP leadership. The Freedom Caucus wanted leadership to schedule a vote on an immigration bill put forward by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) before they gave their support to the farm bill. Democrats opposed the bill because it proposed requiring most able-bodied adults between the ages of 18 and 59 without young children to work at least 20 hours a week to receive SNAP benefits.^[12][9]

After the vote, Freedom Caucus leader Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said that he would continue to work with GOP leadership to find a way forward on immigration and the farm bill. He said, "It’s not a fatal blow, it’s just a reorganize. I think at this point we just really need to deal with immigration in an effective way.”^[9]

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), a chief deputy whip, criticized Republicans who voted against the bill, saying, "Look the farm bill got sidetracked by the immigration debate, just like America is getting sidetracked for the immigration debate. We had enough members that were willing to vote for the farm bill, that liked the farm bill, but a small group that wanted to extract some direct pledge on immigration that we could not simply fulfill under their time frame. Which is really a great disappointment that they would vote against a policy that they profess to support in order to get something immediate that was not in our legislative capacity."^[11]

Although he supported the bill, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan voted "no" on it as a procedural formality so that he could bring the bill up for a vote in the future. The previous farm bill expired on September 30, 2018.^[12]

The bill proposed reauthorizing through fiscal year 2023 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs that addressed commodity support, conservation, trade and international food aid, nutrition assistance, farm credit, rural development, research and extension activities, forestry, horticulture, and crop insurance. It also proposed modifying agriculture and nutrition policies to:^[5]

• "Expand the work requirements and modify the eligibility rules for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program";
• "Repeal the Conservation Stewardship Program and incorporate parts of the program into the Environmental Quality Incentives Program";
• "Revise the requirements and process for the Environmental Protection Agency pesticide registration program";
• "Require farmers to make a one-time election to obtain either price loss coverage or agricultural risk coverage for the 2019-2023 crop years";
• "Allow payment yields used for price loss coverage payments to be updated once in counties affected by drought";
• "Rename the Margin Protection Program for dairy producers as the Dairy Risk Management Program and modify coverage levels and premiums";
• "Combine several trade programs into a single International Market Development Program";
• "Increase the loan limits for guaranteed farm ownership and operating loans";
• "Establish new broadband standards for projects financed through USDA"; and
• "Expand the categorical exclusions that exempt certain forest management activities from requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to prepare an environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement."

April 10, 2018: Trump issues executive order directing Cabinet secretaries to review welfare programs

On April 10, 2018, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing his Cabinet secretaries to review all regulations and guidance documents regarding low-income assistance programs and propose new regulations requiring able-bodied recipients of public assistance to work. The order stated that welfare programs have “delayed economic independence, perpetuated poverty, and weakened family bonds. While bipartisan welfare reform enacted in 1996 was a step toward eliminating the economic stagnation and social harm that can result from long-term Government dependence, the welfare system still traps many recipients, especially children, in poverty and is in need of further reform and modernization in order to increase self-sufficiency, well-being, and economic mobility.”^[13]

In order to improve what the Trump administration described as deficiencies in the welfare system, the executive order, titled, “Reducing Poverty in America by Promoting Opportunity and Economic Mobility,” included the administration’s Principles of Economic Mobility, which were designed as guidelines for changing how welfare programs are administered. The Principles of Economic Mobility are as follows:^[13]

• “Improve employment outcomes and economic independence (including by strengthening existing work requirements for work-capable people and introducing new work requirements when legally permissible)”;

• “Promote strong social networks as a way of sustainably escaping poverty (including through work and marriage)”;

• “Address the challenges of populations that may particularly struggle to find and maintain employment (including single parents, formerly incarcerated individuals, the homeless, substance abusers, individuals with disabilities, and disconnected youth)”;

• “Balance flexibility and accountability both to ensure that State, local, and tribal governments, and other institutions, may tailor their public assistance programs to the unique needs of their communities and to ensure that welfare services and administering agencies can be held accountable for achieving outcomes (including by designing and tracking measures that assess whether programs help people escape poverty)”;

• “Reduce the size of bureaucracy and streamline services to promote the effective use of resources”;

• “Reserve benefits for people with low incomes and limited assets”;

• “Reduce wasteful spending by consolidating or eliminating Federal programs that are duplicative or ineffective”;

• “Create a system by which the Federal Government remains updated on State, local, and tribal successes and failures, and facilitates access to that information so that other States and localities can benefit from it”; and

• “Empower the private sector, as well as local communities, to develop and apply locally based solutions to poverty.”

The order did not change existing law or any federally administered programs.^[13]

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) criticized the order in a joint statement, saying, “This executive order perpetuates false and racist stereotypes about certain groups supposedly taking advantage of government assistance.”^[14]

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), who had not read the specific text of the executive order, said he supported the concept of the order. He said, “For able-bodied, single adults, I certainly favor work requirements.”^[14]

Trump administration officials on social welfare programs

Click on each administration member's name to read his or her comments on social welfare programs.

Donald Trump

President Donald Trump

• In his 2011 book, Time to Get Tough, Trump discussed his position on several social welfare programs.

• Trump on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps: "The food stamp program was originally created as temporary assistance for families with momentary times of need. And it shouldn't be needed often. Thankfully, 96 percent of America's poor parents say their children never suffer even a day of hunger. But when half of food stamp recipients have been on the dole for nearly a decade, something is clearly wrong, and some of it has to do with fraud."^[15]

• Trump on the 1996 Welfare Reform Act's welfare-to-work measure: "To get your check, you had to prove that you were enrolled in job-training or trying to find work. But here's the rub: the 1996 Welfare Reform Act only dealt with one program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), not the other seventy-six welfare programs which, today, cost taxpayers more than $900 billion annually. We need to take a page from the 1996 reform and do the same for other welfare programs. Benefits should have strings attached to them. After all, if it's our money recipients are getting, we the people should have a say in how it's spent. The way forward is to do what we did with AFDC and attach welfare benefits to work. The Welfare Reform Act of 2011–proposed by Republican Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio, Tim Scott of South Carolina, and Scott Garrett of New Jersey–does just that."^[16]

Mike Pence

Vice President Mike Pence

• During his 2015 CPAC speech, Pence said, "When it comes to most public assistance programs, states are simply better-equipped to innovate and manage anti-poverty programs in a fiscally-responsible way. Because states can’t print money. ...In Indiana, we ended traditional Medicaid for all able-bodied adults and replaced it with consumer driven healthcare and health savings accounts."^[17]

See also

• Federal policy on the budget, 2017-2020
• Federal policy on Social Security, 2017-2020

External links

• Search Google News for this topic

Footnotes

v • e President Donald Trump's policies Overviews Donald Trump • Donald Trump presidential Cabinet • Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016 Polling indexes: Opinion polling during the Trump administration Domestic policy Abortion • Crime and justice • Education • Energy and the environment • Federal courts • Firearms policy • First Amendment • Healthcare • Immigration • Infrastructure • LGBTQ issues • Marijuana • Puerto Rico • Social welfare programs • Veterans • Voting issues Economic affairs and regulations Agriculture and food policy • Budget • Financial regulation • Jobs • Social Security • Taxes • Trade Foreign affairs and national security Afghanistan • Arab states of the Persian Gulf • China • Cuba • Iran • Iran nuclear deal • Islamic State and terrorism • Israel and Palestine • Latin America • Military • NATO • North Korea • Puerto Rico • Russia • Syria • Syrian refugees • Technology, privacy, and cybersecurity