GOP: Pay the rich and kick the poor

There was one brief moment last year when Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson seemed to get it.

In December, Carson announced the dismal findings of HUD’s annual survey of homelessness in America. On a single night in 2017, more than 550,000 people experienced homelessness, a 1 percent increase over 2016. One-third of the homeless were African-American. 

Carson struck an urgent note: “With rents rising faster than incomes, we need to bring everybody to the table to produce more affordable housing and ease the pressure that is forcing too many of our neighbors into our shelters and onto our streets.”

Then, in an abrupt reversal, Carson on April 25 announced the tripling of rent for the poorest of households and the expansion of work requirements for those receiving federal housing subsidies. 

He wants to eliminate deductions for medical expenses and child care in determining rent. The changes require the approval of Congress.

An analysis of the HUD plan by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says the steep rent increases mostly will impact single mothers — and will put a million children at risk of homelessness.

Carson’s proposals followed President Donald Trump’s executive order instructing federal agencies to make plans for the expansion of work requirements for low-income and disabled Americans who receive support from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly called “food stamps”), Medicaid, housing subsidies, or Temporary Assistance to Needy Families.

Republicans in Congress responded with a measure requiring that all non-disabled SNAP recipients ages 18–60 work at least 20 hours per week or enroll in state-run training programs.

If passed as part of the 2018 Farm Bill, the requirements would impact between 7 and 10 million people nationwide.

Where all these people are going to find work is anyone’s guess, as is how states will scale up training programs to meet the need.

These alleged “reforms” come in the wake of Trump’s $1.5 trillion tax cut, which primarily benefited wealthy individuals and corporations. 

They also come from the playbook of Gov. Scott Walker and the Wisconsin Republicans who have pioneered punitive measures against the poor for years.

In the 1990s, Gov. Tommy Thompson imposed work requirements and benefit time limits on individuals enrolled in the Welfare to Work (W2) program. More recently, Walker introduced drug screenings for W2 recipients, which he is planning to extend to Medicaid, housing assistance and FoodShare recipients. FoodShare is Wisconsin’s version of SNAP.

In 2013, Wisconsin required that childless FoodShare recipients work 20 hours per week or attend training programs until they found a job.

In February, parents of school-age children were added to the FoodShare work requirement, which was increased to 30 hours per week.

In the past five years, 86,000 FoodShare recipients have been disqualified while the number of meals distributed by Feeding Wisconsin rose from 38 million to 60 million. Other food pantries report increased usage. About 11 percent of Wisconsinites currently depend on FoodShare. The average monthly benefit per individual is $105.

Last November, in a speech about welfare reform, Donald Trump raged that people who don’t work are “making more money and doing better than the person that’s working his or her ass off!”

Everyone would be “doing better” with a raise in the minimum wage, student-debt relief and other practical moves toward economic fairness. 

But don’t expect that from Donald Trump or the GOP. While blaming the poor, they’re planning another trillion-dollar tax cut for the rich.

Jamakaya is an award-winning writer and historian based in Milwaukee.