688,000 people to be thrown off food stamps

Der Fuhrer ALWAYS blames President Trump for whatever problems there are in the US, whether new or decades old. Whatever the problem- just blame Trump. Liberal policies equate to give more/tax more ---- while conservative policies equate to work more/tax less. Liberals have their hands out demanding more from those who work and pay taxes, while conservatives just work more and are self respecting earners. Liberal states have the highest taxation and the highest numbers of people on the dole. Bottom line, if you want more free stuff move to California or any other liberal state. There you can sleep in the sunshine, shoot up your drugs, shit on the side walks, panhandle, break the laws and do as you please - for those who actually work there will foot the bill by paying higher taxes. Coincidentally, the states that are having the highest number of people leaving are liberal controlled and governed- namely, New York, California, New Jersey and Illinois- which also happen to be some of the highest taxed states in the U.S. Any sane person can see the correlation of higher taxation=more freeloaders versus lower taxation=more self respecting working people. Yeah, when common sense fails, just blame Trump...

Kevin Lewis contends: "In conservative states, the citizenry and government want to nail them into crates and ship them to Iceland."  

Actually Iceland isn't as unpleasant as one might think:

The climate of Iceland is subarctic (Köppen climate classification: Cfc) near the southern coastal area and tundra inland in the highlands. The island lies in the path of the North Atlantic Current, which makes its climate more temperate than would be expected for its latitude just south of the Arctic Circle. This effect is aided by the Irminger Current, which also helps to moderate the island's temperature. The weather in Iceland is notoriously variable.

The aurora borealis is often visible at night during the winter. The midnight sun can be experienced in summer on the island of Grímsey off the north coast; the remainder of the country, since it lies just south of the polar circle, experiences a twilight period during which the sun sets briefly, but still has around two weeks of continuous daylight during the summer.

--- wikipedia

Pesky State Taxes !

Combined Sales and Income Tax Leaders:

The Tax Foundation interprets individual tax burden by what taxpayers actually spend in local and state taxes, rather than report these expenses from the state revenue perspective used by the Census Bureau. Its State and Local Tax Burden Rankings study reported that Americans paid an average rate of 9.9 percent in state and local taxes in 2012. According to the foundation, the five highest state-local tax states were:

• New York 12.7 %
• Connecticut 12.6%
• New Jersey 12.2%
• Illinois 11.0%
• California and Wisconsin 11.0%

The same states have ranked as the top three consistently since 2005, according to the foundation. "Lots of people want to relocate for lifestyle issues," says Molony. "Some seek a nicer climate. If all things are equal between climate choices, the tax situation becomes an area worth exploring."

The rates in those 5 states have all gone up since 2012. 

New York is facing a multi billion deficit so the taxes should go even higher. 

Not included in those calculations in New York are $15 bridge tolls, $35 daily parking fees at the airports & subway/commuter rail tolls etc. 

Kevin's hyperbole is sometimes entertaining.  And when Don follows with something, it is even more entertaining!  See, by staying in the Kitchen Sink I learned something about Iceland.   Previously the sum total of my knowledge of Iceland was the name of the capital city, Reykjavik, with which I won a session of the board game "Trivial Pursuit."

Candy, I have voted for Democrats, Independents and gasp even Republicans in state and local elections. In your book, does that make me an independent with no political affiliation? 

As far as able-bodied adults go, those rules are already in place. The individual states make that determination under the current rule. A con is being run on you and you are missing it. The people this change impacts have already been determined to be non-able bodies by their state government.  Changing the definition of able-bodied is what they are after so they can kick what are in actuality non-able bodied people off Food Stamps. Their hope by including the language "able-bodied" is that people like you will see that wording and accept it at face value. 

It is the same sort of gamesmanship employed when Republicans roll back environmental regulations and then name the bill doing so something like the Healthy Trees Act.  A non-thinking person comes along and sees "Healthy Trees Act" and says to themselves see Republicans aren't so bad on the environment they are voting for healthy trees.  Who could object to such a noble goal?   Likewise, you see the word able-bodied and conclude yeah, that sounds good able-bodied people don't need food stamps, so who could object to that. You don't dig deep enough to realize that is already the existing rule and what is really going on is an attempt to redefine non-able-bodied people as able-bodied. 

David Miller said, "Red moocher states? Now I have heard everything."

It is a pretty basic fact that Blue States as a whole pay more in Federal Taxes than they get back from the Federal Government while Red states get more money back than they pay in. David, do you live in a maker or taker state? 

Source

So no reform is needed in the SNAP program?   There is significant waste in pretty much EVERY government program.  Is so, reform can only be a good thing!

The agency said that it found 2.9 million adults on the SNAP rolls were able-bodied and did not have dependants and it said 2.1 million were not working.---- this group is required to work at least 20 hours a week for more than three months over a 36-month period to qualify for food stamps---- I find it hard to believe that these able bodied"adults" can not find employment for 3 months in a 36 month period.,https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nearly-700-000-will-lose-food-stamps-usda-work-requirement-n1095726--