When asked if Republicans were willing to drop demands for job requirements, Graves replied: “Hell no. Not a chance. Not going to happen.”
McCarthy called the tightening of work requirements a “philosophical difference” between the White House and House Republicans. He and Graves argued that getting more people back into the labor force would boost the finances of Social Security and Medicare because more payroll tax revenue would flow into trust funds.
“If you’re against work requirements, you’re supporting the idea of borrowing money from China, paying people who are … stable without dependents, to sit on the couch, and then they don’t pay on either Social Security or Medicare. ,” McCarthy said Friday.
Democrats pushed back against the changes, arguing they would hit the neediest the hardest. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that provisions of the debt ceiling bill passed by the House could cause nearly 600,000 people to lose health insurance because of Medicaid changes, while 275,000 would lose to access SNAP benefits.
House Agriculture ranking member David Scott urged Biden in a statement Friday to “hold the line” against expanded work requirements, especially for those on SNAP, which he argued are too which exacerbates food insecurity.
