---
[ IMPORTANT READS ](https://www.citywatchla.com/important-reads)
# Investment in Sustainable Jobs Must Follow Cut to Food Stamps
December 12 2019
Written by George Cassidy Payne.
[](https://www.addtoany.com/share)
**VIEW FROM HERE**-After nearly 20 years as a social worker trained in conflict resolution, I have learned some valuable lessons about the ways people communicate with one another.
What doesn’t work so well is assuming that someone has bad intentions just because they have different opinions.
For example, I do not personally agree with the Trump administration’s decision to finalize a rule that will [cut off food stamps](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/04/us/politics/trump-food-stamp-cuts.html) to roughly 688,000 American adults by requiring states to enforce work requirements. Yet, if I practice what I preach, I must make an effort to understand why the President would endorse such a policy. What are its potential benefits?
To start, the U.S. Agriculture Department said the move will save about $5.5 billion over five years. Although nearly 8,000 households would lose benefits entirely, according to reporting by the New York Times, those cuts would be concentrated in cold northern states that would be most affected by a change in the way heating costs are calculated. Moreover, “the number of families losing benefits is a tiny percentage of the nearly 40 million people who receive benefits, and even 4.5 billion over five years is a trim for a program that cost 68 billion in 2018 alone.”
Moreover, there is nothing wrong with incentivizing people to work. I think that should be one of the most important priorities of any White House. Although this plan cuts benefits for 19 percent of households on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs (SNAP), it also increases benefits for 16 percent. The President can make the argument that he is merely reallocating how benefits are distributed while promoting an ideology that he believes is good for the country. He is, after all, the elected leader of the United States, and that is what he was chosen to do.
Fair enough. But what is not being talked about is the living wage. A [study at MIT](https://livingwage.mit.edu/) demonstrated that the living wage in the United States was $16.07 per hour in 2017, before taxes for a family of four (two working adults, two children), compared to $15.84 in 2016. It is one thing to take someone off food stamps in order to encourage them to work (self-sufficiency is synonymous with citizenship), but it is counterproductive, cruel, and detrimental to society to merely strip people of food without making work a sustainable option. Just telling people that they need to work because jobs are available is not good enough. What is needed is a comprehensive plan that not only provides people with jobs, but safe and affordable transportation, reliable daycare, adequate sick time and paid vacation, healthcare that meets the real needs of families, workspaces free of harassment and discrimination, and living wages. If Trump is going to save $5 billion by cutting food stamps, he should reinvest that same about of money in these vital areas.
At the end of the day, people need work that works for them; and they need, no matter what misfortune may befall them, food. Food is not a privilege. Food is a human right. If Trump cuts food stamps and leaves hundreds of thousands of Americans without the nutrition they need to survive, that is not just a failed policy, it is an act of aggression.
*(George Cassidy Payne is a social worker in Rochester, NY. He has degrees in the humanities from St. John Fisher College and Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School.) Prepped for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.*
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/107 "LA DWP | Save $4K, Green | Priority Ad")
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/98 "Donna Tryfman - HS1-1")
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/82 "LA DWP #2 (Power Savers)")
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/111 "David DeJute Campaign")
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/97 "Home - LA DWP #2 (Pay Water Bill Help)")
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/112 "Anna Reitano Vertical R. Col")
## Get The News In Your Email Inbox Mondays & Thursdays
First Name
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/110 "Something You Should Know")
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/113 "Rhonda Haymon campaign")
---
## Featured CityWatch Stories
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/neighborhood-politics/33486-why-would-la-voters-elect-a-city-attorney-who-has-never-tried-a-case-in-court-in-front-of-a-jury)
### [Why Would LA Voters Elect A City Attorney Who Has Never Tried A Case In Court In Front Of A Jury?](https://www.citywatchla.com/neighborhood-politics/33486-why-would-la-voters-elect-a-city-attorney-who-has-never-tried-a-case-in-court-in-front-of-a-jury)
OP-ED - I am writing to my neighbors over my deep concern about the candidacy of Marissa Roy for Los Angeles City Attor…
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/los-angeles/33508-a-los-angeles-trilogy-the-successes-and-failures-that-defined-our-leadership)
### [A Los Angeles Trilogy: The Successes and Failures That Defined Our Leadership](https://www.citywatchla.com/los-angeles/33508-a-los-angeles-trilogy-the-successes-and-failures-that-defined-our-leadership)
NICK’S VIEW - Los Angeles needs purposeful, decisive leadership. Without it, the city risks sleepwalking into crisis. T…
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/state-watch/33480-high-speed-rail-consultants-misuse-of-public-funds-fast-track-project-failures)
### [High-Speed Rail: Consultants’ Misuse of Public Funds Fast-Track Project Failures](https://www.citywatchla.com/state-watch/33480-high-speed-rail-consultants-misuse-of-public-funds-fast-track-project-failures)
NICK'S VIEW - California’s high-speed rail (HSR)project has become so complex, unstable, and financially off track that…
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/los-angeles/33482-landlord-ripoff-utility-scam-rubs-tenants-wrong-way)
### [Landlord Ripoff Utility Scam RUBS Tenants Wrong Way](https://www.citywatchla.com/los-angeles/33482-landlord-ripoff-utility-scam-rubs-tenants-wrong-way)
LA RENTS - Landlords have found a new way to bypass rent control restrictions to ripoff their tenants. This landlord s…
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/world-watch/33501-the-slow-motion-erasure-of-the-west-bank)
### [The Slow-Motion Erasure Of The West Bank](https://www.citywatchla.com/world-watch/33501-the-slow-motion-erasure-of-the-west-bank)
WEST BANK - There are crimes that arrive with explosions, and crimes that advance quietly—through a bulldozer at dawn…
---
## [ IMPORTANT READS ](https://www.citywatchla.com/important-reads)
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/important-reads/33490-can-you-still-recover-compensation-if-you-were-partly-at-fault)### [Can You Still Recover Compensation If You Were Partly at Fault](https://www.citywatchla.com/important-reads/33490-can-you-still-recover-compensation-if-you-were-partly-at-fault)
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/important-reads/33488-how-insurance-companies-undervalue-car-accident-claims)### [How Insurance Companies Undervalue Car Accident Claims](https://www.citywatchla.com/important-reads/33488-how-insurance-companies-undervalue-car-accident-claims)
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/important-reads/33474-what-to-do-after-a-motorcycle-crash-before-pursuing-a-claim-early)### [What to Do After a Motorcycle Crash Before Pursuing a Claim Early](https://www.citywatchla.com/important-reads/33474-what-to-do-after-a-motorcycle-crash-before-pursuing-a-claim-early)
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/important-reads/33472-how-to-respond-to-sexual-harassment-when-the-harasser-has-workplace-authority)### [How to Respond to Sexual Harassment When the Harasser Has Workplace Authority](https://www.citywatchla.com/important-reads/33472-how-to-respond-to-sexual-harassment-when-the-harasser-has-workplace-authority)
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/important-reads/33443-stronger-schools-together-lausds-smokescreen-for-keeping-families-ignorant)### [“Stronger Schools Together”: LAUSD’s Smokescreen for Keeping Families Ignorant](https://www.citywatchla.com/important-reads/33443-stronger-schools-together-lausds-smokescreen-for-keeping-families-ignorant)