DORAL, Florida — As they work through a sweeping “menu” of potential spending cuts, House Republicans are facing growing anxiety in their ranks about slashing away at key safety-net programs. But there is one proposal that enjoys broad support inside the GOP: instituting new and expanded work requirements for some of those programs.
According to three Republicans who attended a closed-door session at the House GOP retreat Tuesday, members there appeared to coalesce around the work requirements idea — which would generate less savings than other, more far-reaching proposals but is seen as more politically palatable in swing districts.
Speaker Mike Johnson said in a brief interview leaving the meeting that work requirements are “a very popular measure.”
“We haven’t made the final determinations yet, but I think it’s going to be part of it,” he added.
Inside the meeting, held at President Donald Trump’s Miami-area resort, GOP chairs presented updated fiscal and political feasibility estimates as they gauged their colleagues’ sentiments on the spending offsets.
Vulnerable House Republicans are deeply wary of massive cuts to programs like Medicaid, food aid benefits and, to some extent, another program known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, which provides direct cash assistance to low-income families who qualify.
But they are more open to enacting new work requirements for Medicaid and TANF and expanding current work requirements for SNAP beneficiaries — potentially to include parents of children over 7 years old for the first time.
