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Welfare to Work: Lifting Americans Out of Poverty President fulfilled a campaign promise of welfare reform without the help of Congress. The Trump administration is implementing a new rule for SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) that requires all able-bodied adults (18-49) without dependents to work at least 20 hours per week to receive SNAP benefits. Currently, there are many exemptions and waivers for states to maintain benefits for those not working, but with the new rules the only waiver of states with an unemployment rate higher than 6%. The elderly, pregnant women, the disabled and families are exempt from the new rules. This rule is expected to result in 688,000 individuals being removed from SNAP, hopefully motivating them to work and improve their status. However, the SNAP agency found that there are actually 2.9 million able-bodied adults on SNAP and 2.1 million that do not work, meaning the crackdown by the Trump administration could be much larger. Undoubtedly, SNAP has grown out of control. In 2000, the U.S. unemployment rate was 4% with 17 million Americans on Food Stamps now known as SNAP. In contrast, today there are 36 million individuals on SNAP and unemployment is even lower, standing at 3.6%. On an additional note, since President Trump has been President the number of Americans on SNAP has decreased by 2.4 million people. This is due to a booming economy along with the Trump administration not increasing SNAP spending like Obama and opting not to promote welfare as a lifestyle unlike Obama (ABC). Power Back to the People President Trump signed an executive order that allows cities, local municipalities, counties, and states to veto refugee resettlement. This gives local communities the right to decide if they want to accept refugees. This fulfills a major campaign promise of President Trump. Texas was the first state to take advantage of this executive order and will not accept refugees citing that their state resources are overwhelmed with migrants at the Southern border. The average cost of resettling one refugee for taxpayers is $15,900, $80,000 over five years. 92.5% of refugees sign up for SNAP after arriving and with 5 years 70% remain on SNAP. Taxpayers spend $1.8 billion refugee resettlement per year or $88 billion over five years (The Hill). Trump Administration Limiting Taxpayer-Funded Abortion The Trump Administration finalized a rule that will require insurance companies to bill customers with a separate premium for policies that cover abortions. Under Obamacare, millions receive taxpayer-subsidized insurance and when the policyholder who is covered by Obamacare gets an abortion, in the former system. the federal government was subsidizing that abortion by paying for their insurance plan. Likewise, in 18 states Obamacare insurers previously covered abortions and in California law requires insurers to. This executive order enforces federal law, the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer funding for abortion. Simply stated, taxpayer money will no longer subsidize plans that include abortion coverage, individuals will have to pay their own premium for that portion of coverage (Washington Examiner). Furthermore, the Trump Administration announced that a California law requiring all health insurance companies to pay for abortions violates federal law- the Hyde Amendment. As a result, the Trump administration will withhold funding to California. President Trump is the first President to speak at the “March for Life” in Washington D.C. (Wall Street Journal). Trump Anti- Semitism Executive Order President Trump signed an executive order to combat antisemitism by granting Jewish people Title XI anti-discrimination protections under the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Another key component of this executive order is it allows the Department of Education to defund colleges and universities that fail to fight antisemitism. Most notably, this executive order will defund colleges that support the BDS-Boycott Divest Movement that boycotts and targets Israel (Washington Examiner). Space Force Established The sixth branch of the United States military, the Space Force was recently established with the enactment of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. The main goal of the space force is to operate and protect America’s key space assets such as GPS satellites. The last time a branch was added to the military was in 1947 with the air force being added. Currently, 3,400 Air Force officers and 6,200 Air Force members are eligible to join the Space Force. The Space Force’s new logo has been released (Air Force Magazine). USMCA Ratified The long-awaited United States-Mexico-Canada-Agreement to replace NAFTA was ratified by the House of Representatives by broad bipartisan support 385-41 and 89-10 in the Senate. Then President Trump signed the new trade deal he negotiated, so USMCA will now take effect by helping American workers and farmers. The USMCA is expected to create at least 176,000 jobs and add $68.2 billion to the U.S. economy/GDP. However, according to Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette 600,000 jobs can be expected to be created. Furthermore, this would spur $34 billion in investment in the American auto industry and 76,000 jobs in the auto industry. This new trade agreement also opens Canada as a new market for American dairy products, eggs and poultry (CNBC). Phase I China Trade Deal President Trump signed a Phase One Trade Deal with China and hopes to negotiate part two in the near future. The provisions in Part I include many intellectual property protections. These measures include China honoring patents of U.S. companies, ending the practice of forced technology transfer which is when American companies would have to give their intellectual property to China in order to do business, makes it easier for an American company to file for a criminal investigation in China for stolen trade secrets along with speeding up criminal trials involving intellectual property and China limiting the production/sale of counterfeit goods. China announced they will purchase at least $200 billion in American products. This includes: $32 billion worth of agriculture, $37.2 billion worth of services, $52.4 billion worth of energy and $77.7 billion in manufactured goods. In 2017 U.S. exports to China were only $130 billion meaning this deal could double U.S. exports to China. This agreement opens up Chinese markets to American financial companies and financial services. The U.S. in exchange cut tariffs from 15% to 7.5% on $122 billion worth of Chinese goods and the U.S. cancels tariffs on $156 billion worth of Chinese goods that were planned to go into effect. Conversely, the U.S. still maintains 25% tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese products. If China fails to follow through on their promises, the U.S. will reimpose tariffs (NPR). Obama Lunch Standards Replaced President Trump recently rolled back Michelle Obama’s federal standard for school lunch nutrition. The new rules allow for more different types of food and less stringent rules regarding the amount or type of vegetables. The reasons cited were school lunches being wasted and administrative burdens on schools. This now paves the way for hamburgers, pizza, french fries, and cookies to be more frequently available to students. The fruit requirement for school-provided breakfast has been limited and can be substituted with a granola bar or baked goods. Some medical professionals worry this could increase obesity and lead to an overall decrease in children’s physical and mental health. Despite the well-intentions of Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” Initiative, 35% of children are overweight and 26% are obese, meaning obesity is still a major problem. While this new rule reduces overreach of the federal government, it could exacerbate the obesity crisis in the U.S. (Reuters). Protecting Religious Liberty President Trump announced his administration issued a new rule regarding school prayer, updating the existing rule which has not been modified since 2003. This rule protects students who want to partake in school prayer or as Trump deemed the rule "the right to pray”. In addition, the Office of Management and Budget issued a memo rescinding the Obama era policy. The memo states that religion cannot be a determining factor in federal grants, in an effort to prevent religious groups from being denied grants based on their faith. Nine other agencies are issuing new memos similar to this one to ensure they follow this new policy, notably the Department of Education issued several new rules. These new rules were announced on National Religious Freedom Day (Washington Times). President Trump Supporting Victims President Trump signed The Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act of 2019. This bill is named after a rape victim whose rape occurred in 1989 but the DNA was not tested until 1994. This law will grant funding to test the 100,000 rape kit backlog throughout the U.S. In addition, this law also provides DNA training and education programs. It is vital that these rape kits are tested in a timely manner, which this law ensures because the statute of limitations for rape eventually expires in many states (ABC). Sources: https://www.google.com/amp/s/abcnews.go.com/amp/US/trump-signs-bill-eliminate-backlog-rape-kit-testing/story%3fid=67997113 https://www.google.com/amp/s/abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/trump-administration-adjusts-work-requirements-food-stamp-eligibility/story%3fid=67494780 Pearce, Tim. “Trump to Sign Executive Order Defunding Colleges That Fail to Fight Anti-Semitism.” Washington Examiner, 11 Dec. 2019, www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-to-sign-executive-order-defunding-colleges-that-fail-to-fight-anti-semitism.
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