The debt limit compromise that has been reached by Congress avoids default by sacrificing access to vital resources for low-income Americans. The agreement expands cruel and ineffective work requirements for both Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This agreement will cut off thousands of Coloradans from SNAP by adding work requirements for adults aged 50-54 without dependent children, on top of existing work requirements for adults aged 19-49. Extending these barriers to older adults—a population that experiences persistent challenges to employment such as poor health and stigma in hiring—will only increase hunger, poverty and suffering. While the agreement lifts work requirements for veterans, youth aging out of foster care, and persons experiencing homelessness, many people will still lose access to SNAP benefits.
We know from extensive research that work requirements are ineffective for increasing employment or earnings and instead create bureaucratic barriers that cut off large numbers of people from vital aid, counterproductively making it harder to find and maintain stable employment. These work requirements are rooted in racist and classist narratives, whereby low-income Americans and Americans of color are portrayed as lazy and undeserving. Scapegoating low-income Americans to promote policies that take away resources from households in need is unacceptable.
In addition to the harmful changes to SNAP and TANF, the compromise includes a claw back of COVID relief and limitations on domestic spending that will lead to further cuts in support to struggling individuals and families. These cuts only result in modest savings in the context of the federal budget but will push more people into poverty and hardship. We urge our Colorado delegation to reject any cuts that harm low-income Coloradans.
If we chose to ensure that no American went hungry, we could easily do so. We hope that as we approach the Farm Bill, we remember that hunger and poverty are policy choices and it is our collective responsibility, and the responsibility of Congress, to make the right choices.