Arkansas’s Successful Work Requirements For Food Stamps Should Be Replicated With Medicaid

1. In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed a historic welfare reform bill, saying it gave us “a chance we haven't had before to break the cycle of dependency that has existed for millions and millions of our fellow citizens, exiling them from the world of work.
2. The Arkansas Departments of Human Services and of Workforce Services combined forces, tracking more than 25,000 able-bodied adults who left welfare after the work requirement was reapplied.
3. If it succeeds, is it really so terrible that a Republican who seemed to come from the left side of the flank is finally making good on a promise made by a Democrat ostensibly from the right side? The headlines aren’t as good, as there isn’t the requisite bleeding, but citizens striving to (and succeeding at) improving their lot in life is undeniably positive.
4. It may have taken a second Arkansan to finish what another Arkansan started then promptly abandoned––this time on the state level––but having more people making more money and living better while decreasing state budgets and increasing tax revenue would generally seem to be a good thing.
5. With Tucker Carlson’s recent critique of the “elites” still a source of conversation about such politics and policy, it’s worth remembering Carlson’s observation: “In countries around the world — France, Brazil, Sweden, the Philippines, Germany, and many others — voters are suddenly backing candidates and ideas that would have been unimaginable just a decade ago.

http://thefederalist.com/2019/01/24/arkansass-successful-work-requirements-food-stamps-replicated-medicaid/