McCarthy on Monday said Americans need to get back to work, and he wants to impose stricter work requirements on federal benefit programs in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.
Republicans are coalescing around the idea of tying the debt limit to changes to benefit programs, making it harder for people to be eligible unless they work.
Work requirements aren't a new debate, and the GOP has perennially targeted spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid.
During a speech Monday delivered from the New York Stock Exchange, McCarthy said "incentives matter" and today's incentives are "out of whack."
"It's time to get Americans back to work," he said.
Republicans' proposal would target able-bodied adults without dependents, McCarthy added, in an effort to prod them back into the workforce.
"Assistance programs are supposed to be temporary, not permanent," McCarthy said. "A hand up, not a handout."
SNAP already has work requirements for able-bodied adults, though COVID-19 pandemic policies have allowed states to waive the requirements. If you are "able bodied" and have no dependents, you must prove work or "work activities" for 80 hours a month. If you don't, you will lose your benefits after three months.
And policy experts and advocates say the idea that poor people are freeloading and taking advantage of Medicaid is a false characterization of the state-federal health program for the needy.
During the Trump administration and with assistance from the Department of Health and Human Services, 13 states imposed work requirements.
But only Arkansas enacted the requirements for any length of time, and more than 18,000 people lost their Medicaid coverage in Arkansas in the nine months the requirements were in effect before they were blocked by a court.
McCarthy is trying to put pressure on the Biden administration to negotiate, though any proposal pushed by House Republicans is expected to face a difficult path in the Democratic-led Senate.
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