GOP Farm Bill Negotiators Balk at Keeping Food Stamp Work Requirements

GOP Farm Bill Negotiators Balk at Keeping Food Stamp Work Requirements
Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) speaks to reporters as he arrives for the weekly Senate Republican's policy luncheon, on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 24, 2018. Al Drago/Getty Images
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Republican farm bill negotiators have abandoned the attempt to create additional work requirements for the country’s largest food assistance entitlement program.

Proponents say the measures would have prodded millions of recipients of the near $70 billion annual program to work toward greater economic self-sufficiency. Detractors have mostly held that the work-for-food provisions would have punished many in genuine need of help.