No US Debt Deal Yet; Hurdles Include SNAP Work Requirements
WASHINGTON (NEWSnetAP) — Work requirements for federal food aid recipients have emerged as a sticking point in negotiations over the debt crisis, even as President Joe Biden said Friday that a deal is “very close.”
Biden’s optimism came as the deadline for a default was pushed back to June 5 and seemed likely to drag negotiations between the White House and Republicans over raising the debt ceiling even later.
Both sides have suggested one of the main holdups is a GOP effort to boost work requirements for recipients of food stamps and other federal aid programs, a longtime Republican goal Democrats have strenuously opposed.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates called the GOP proposals “cruel and senseless” and said Biden and Democrats would stand against them.
Louisiana Rep. Garret Graves, one of House Speaker Kevin
McCarthy’s negotiators, was blunt when asked if Republicans might relent on the issue: "Hell no, not a chance,” he said.
The June 5 deadline was laid out in a new letter from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. But she said failure to act by the new date would “cause severe hardship to American families, harm our global leadership position and raise questions about our ability to defend our national security interests.”
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