3 - The Difference in Being Poor in Red States versus Blue States

Summary

This chapter discusses how Republicans at the federal and state level are adding behavior modification requirements to a wide array of public benefits programs, thus driving a divide between red and blue states.  Behavior modification requirements include tying public assistance to work requirements, family caps (limits on benefits based on family size), and drug tests.  Congress first approved behavior modification requirements on a large-scale as part of welfare reform in 1996.  These requirements are attempts to control the behavior of the poor, based on an assumption that poor people are morally deficient.  To implement these changes, Republicans are using federalism tools such as waivers, or statutorily permitted deviations from federal program norms on a state-by-state basis. The Trump administration has already approved work requirements for Medicaid and signaled that it will permit a range of behavior modification requirements in housing and nutrition assistance programs.  As a result, state variations in terms of poverty rates and poverty relief will deepen.  In short, a person’s experience at the bottom of the economic ladder differs widely depending on where they live, and red state versus blue state policy differences are driving part of that geographic divergence.