A House Republican wants to expand work requirements for a federal food assistance program, a move that he believes will spur more people to escape poverty.

Rep. Dusty Johnson, South Dakota Republican, plans to reintroduce his America Works Act on Tuesday. The measure would amend a handful of work requirements in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the country’s largest food assistance program.

Roughly 42 million Americans relied on the program in fiscal 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Mr. Johnson, whose family relied on SNAP when he was young, acknowledged the importance of the program, and argued “that’s why I think we should be so driven to make sure that the program works.”

“We don’t want people trapped in poverty,” he told The Washington Times. “We want people to escape poverty, and we know that work requirements are an incredibly powerful part of that.”

Mr. Johnson’s bill, which he first introduced in 2023, would require able-bodied adults without dependents to work or participate in work-related training for a minimum of 20 hours a week to receive SNAP benefits.

It would also crank up the age range for said work requirements to 18 to 65 years old, eliminate states’ ability to “exploit” SNAP eligibility by grouping areas with high-unemployment areas with lower-unemployment, and allows able-bodied adults with a child up to seven years old to be exempt from work requirements.

Since President Trump’s return to the White House, Republicans have a newfound zeal for cutting spending. SNAP, which accounted for $112.8 billion in federal spending in fiscal 2023, could be a prime target.

Mr. Johnson said that his bill could be a “major cost saving” move, but that trimming federal spending was not his primary motivator in his push to reform the program.  

But critics of increased SNAP work requirements say that adding more caveats to the program would curb access to food.

In a report released earlier this year, the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found that expanding work requirements does not override the effects of economic ebbs and flows — the key factor in employment, particularly for low-income people who are likely to rely on SNAP.

“Stricter work requirements — and the burdensome paperwork that will need to be completed to apply for the benefits — will shut out deserving families needing food assistance and health care,” the report read.

And SNAP has been a flashpoint between Republicans and Democrats, particularly for Democratic lawmakers who say tweaks or changes like the one proposed by Mr. Johnson would see fewer people get benefits or kick people off the program entirely.

Mr. Johnson lamented that he was disappointed in how Democratic lawmakers had messaged against adding work requirements to SNAP, arguing that “none of their claims are fact based.”

He threw cold water on critics who say that the bill would kick seniors, people with disabilities and pregnant women off the program, and countered that his bill and preexisting law already make clear that work requirements apply to none of the above.

“This used to be a strong area of bipartisanship, and unfortunately, culturally, in recent years, have seemed willing to describe work as punishment, when in fact, work is opportunity,” he said.

• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.