Congressional Democrats are stretching out the latest round of coronavirus stimulus negotiations by demanding substantial, potentially permanent, changes to the food stamp program.
A new rule, announced Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, seeks to close a long-standing loophole in the federal welfare system. If implemented, the new rule would reduce the number of people receiving welfare benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly referred to as "food stamps"). 
Democrats in a House agriculture subcommittee lashed out at a retired millionaire who applied for and received food stamps in an effort to prove that eligibility for the government benefits in his home state of Minnesota were too lax and could be easily exploited. 
The SNAP program is mainly funded by federal dollars, but states create their own rules and distribution mechanisms for the money. The Democratic chairman of the House Agriculture Committee says the Trump administration's policy requiring states to enforce work-requirements for SNAP recipients “isn't going anywhere.” Prior to the new rules implemented by the Trump administration to strengthen work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), some Republican governor-led states had already begun implementing restrictions and eliminated the practice of submitting “geographic area waivers.” The Trump administration is revising a 22-year-old federal regulation that has enabled states to acquire geographic area waivers exempting able-bodied adults without dependents (ABWDs) from having to work or undergo job training to receive taxpayer-funded food stamp benefits. The Trump administration is revising a 22-year-old federal regulation that has enabled states, with the help of a left-wing political organization, to acquire waivers exempting able-bodied adults without dependents (ABWDs) from having to work or undergo job training to receive taxpayer-funded benefits such as food stamps. 
Despite 10-year-low unemployment, California took advantage of loopholes in federal regulation to keep more than 800,000 federal welfare recipients from having to work. 
The House of Representatives passed its annual farm spending bill late Thursday afternoon, shepherding through major reforms to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). 