EDITORIAL: Biden says work requirements for benefits are ‘wacko’

There was a time not too long ago when members of both major political parties could agree that encouraging people to work was a vital means of promoting prosperity and societal well-being. But the days of a Democratic president signing a welfare reform bill that included employment requirements have long passed.

Today, progressives attack similar proposals as part of their war on personal responsibility. Even modern-day Democrats who identify as moderate have lurched leftward on this issue as a means to survive in a party now dominated by hard-left voices. In 1996, Sen. Joe Biden — along with 20 other Senate Democrats and President Bill Clinton — supported the GOP welfare reform proposal that tied some benefits to work. A quarter century later, as president, Mr. Biden calls such plans “wacko.”

The president’s rhetoric comes as House Republicans have proposed to reinstate work mandates for those receiving various federal benefits, including Medicaid, as part of a deal on raising the debt ceiling.

“We should be exploring every possibility to get our fellow Americans back into the labor force,” Rep. Jason T. Smith, the Republican who chairs House Ways and Means, told The Washington Post, “including strengthening work requirements across all government programs.”

Congressional Democrats, on the other hand, seek to make permanent lax eligibility rules approved during the pandemic for certain welfare programs. “Voters may think food stamps and Medicaid are temporary backstops for Americans who fall on tough times,” The Wall Street Journal observed last week, “but that is no longer true. Both programs have become large and permanent entitlements reminiscent of the European dole.”

The GOP proposal would impose new rules for able-bodied Medicaid recipients and combat Democratic efforts to ease work requirements for those on food stamps. Reforms “wouldn’t apply to the disabled, parents with dependent children, pregnant women or those in drug treatment,” the Journal reports.

What is undesirable or controversial about encouraging able-bodied adults to enter the workforce? Not only would such a result save taxpayers billions of dollars, it would also potentially help shore up struggling entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

Republicans should stand tall on this issue. Work requirements are popular. Witness the election this month in purple Wisconsin in which residents voted 80-20 in favor of advising the legislature to require able-bodied, childless adults “to look for work in order to receive taxpayer-funded welfare benefits.”

It is not compassionate to stifle individual initiative and to nurture dependency. Work requirements would help foster a culture that promotes opportunity and enterprise while still providing a safety net for those who need it most.