Trump isn't gutting Medicaid and food stamps. He's fixing our broken welfare system.
It's a simple question with an obvious answer: Should Americans work as a condition of receiving welfare?
More than two-thirds of Americans respond with a resounding yes. But while the principle of the matter and popular opinion are clear, our country's welfare system has been a muddled mess for decades.
The biggest welfare program − Medicaid − has been disconnected from helping its 84.6 million recipients find work. And while the food stamps program technically has work requirements, they're inconsistently enforced for the 42 million people who benefit from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The result: Tens of millions of people, especially able-bodied adults, have been trapped in government dependency. But they deserve the chance to become self-sufficient. They deserve to fully share in our country's progress. And they deserve to shape that progress while pursuing their own American dream.
Trump is fixing broken welfare system
That is why President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act is so important. The president and Republicans in Congress have started to fundamentally fix America's broken welfare system. They're finally connecting welfare to work.
Your Turn: Medicaid handouts only create dependency. Able-bodied adults should work. | Opinion Forum
Unfortunately, many Americans haven't heard this side of the story. They've been told − by virtually every politician on the left as well as a few loud voices on the right − that Trump and his fellow Republicans are gutting the safety net that vulnerable Americans need.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
In reality, the president has preserved the core of the safety net for the truly vulnerable. He and his fellow Republicans are helping millions of able-bodied adults leave welfare and find work.
That's the point of the safety net: to support people who've fallen on hard times, then help them move on to better times. It was never meant to be a hammock. Yet that's what it has become, trapping millions of people in generational dependency.
Trump's welfare reforms are righting this wrong.
To start, Medicaid now has its first federal work requirement in history. Able-bodied adults without children as well as those without young kids will now be required to work at least part time to keep receiving Medicaid.
Will Trump's big bill kill people? Here's the truth about Medicaid cuts. | Opinion
That is common sense. Medicaid was created to help the neediest people in society get health care. It wasn't intended to cover healthy adults who are capable of working but choose not to. It's good for them, and all of America, if they find jobs and raise their incomes.
The same is true for food stamps. The president and Congress are closing loopholes that have allowed able-bodied adults to avoid work requirements. They've also put states on the financial hook for giving food stamps to those who aren't eligible. These reforms will help millions of people find work and boost their incomes. That's good for them and the rest of society.
Work requirements will help people living in poverty
Those who criticize these commonsense reforms aren't just missing the point. They're missing something profoundly American. We should want our fellow citizens to find good jobs, earn more income and put themselves on the path to everything from buying a car to buying a home. That's the ticket to a life of fulfillment − to the American dream.
But we shouldn't want people to stay on welfare with no strings attached, especially able-bodied adults. We should want them to lead better lives. And we should believe in their incredible potential and innate ability to improve their lives.
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Trump's welfare reforms are grounded in this deeply American principle. They will move millions of people from welfare to work, transforming lives in powerful ways.
Virtually everyone intuitively understands that this is a good thing for everyone, including those on welfare and those of us who pay for it.
The real question is why some politicians and pundits think it's bad to empower people on welfare to rise through work.
Hayden Dublois is data and analytics director at the Foundation for Government Accountability.
You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter.
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(Kirk is a close ally of Donald Trump Jr.) After Trump won in November 2024, the New York Post floated Pulte as a potential Housing and Urban Development secretary, quoting a 'source' calling him 'probably overqualified' and stressing those past donations to vouch for his loyalty to Trumpworld. Trump nominated him for FHFA director instead, and before his confirmation hearings, he deleted tens of thousands of his old tweets, to Senate Democrats' annoyance. Shortly after he was confirmed in March, Pulte posted on X: 'You didn't really think I'd stop tweeting did you'. The FHFA job is a consequential one. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed under government conservatorship during the 2008 financial crisis, but the Trump team is now planning to reprivatize them. It is unclear how involved Pulte is in these discussions (one report claimed he'd been 'largely cut out'). 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(According to David Simon, federal prosecutors in Baltimore called it the 'Head Shot.') But it's not yet clear whether they have enough to make and sustain either case. With Powell having earned Trump's ire for his reluctance to lower interest rates, Pulte started going after him, too. For the past two months, he's been publicly criticizing the Fed chair and urging him to resign. Since the law only permits Trump to fire Powell 'for cause' — meaning 'inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office' — Pulte has been laying the groundwork for that. He's been arguing that the expensive renovation of the Fed's headquarters is a 'scandal' that merits Powell's firing for misconduct. 'I remain optimistic Jerome Powell will do the right thing, and as early as next week,' Pulte posted Friday on X. Could Trump be considering replacing Powell with Pulte himself? So far, National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett is said to be the frontrunner. And a Pulte nomination may not be received kindly by the Senate or the markets. But maybe Pulte can post his way into the job. After all, social media has gotten him this far.
