Punishing the Poor the Latest MAGA House Economic Ransom Demand

Protecting Hundreds of Billions in Trump Corporate Tax Giveaways Remains Part of MAGA Strategy

Washington D.C. – House Republicans have reportedly been “floating” a new “framework” of demands they may make in exchange for not deliberately forcing the nation into a default crisis that brings severe consequences for the economy and America’s seniors, veterans and middle-class families. While Speaker McCarthy and House Republican leaders have not bothered to put forward any formal plan to avoid a crisis, “the most popular ideas” among the caucus that “have emerged” include erecting cruel and ineffective barriers to food assistance and basic health care for the poorest Americans. Notably, the framework makes no mention of big corporations paying their fair share despite enjoying hundreds of billions of dollars in wasteful tax cuts that fuel the deficit. 

 The House Republican ‘framework’ specifically cites Arkansas’ Medicaid work requirement as the model for national implementation – a policy that has done far more harm than good, massively increasing uninsured rates in the state without increasing employment. More onerous barriers to SNAP food assistance are similarly counterproductive, and House Republicans conveniently ignore the fact that work-rates are already high among SNAP households that are able to work and that SNAP ‘already has a harsh cut-off for unemployed workers without children’.