Republicans have spent years cutting holes in the social safety net. Now they’re ready to bring it down entirely and let vulnerable Americans hit the floor with no net to break the fall. The plan for a concerted attack includes an executive order and congressional legislation:
The president is expected to sign the welfare executive order as soon as January, according to multiple administration officials, with an eye toward making changes to health care, food stamps, housing and veterans programs, not just traditional welfare payments. [...]
The exact provisions of the pending bill are unknown, but a conservative group closely aligned with lawmakers said Republicans intend to pass broadly focused legislation.
“They’re thinking about welfare reform in a large, all-encompassing way, not a program way,” said Jason Turner, executive director of the Secretaries’ Innovation Group, a group of conservative officials who run state-level social programs and met with Ways and Means Committee Republicans on the Hill last week.
This is a lifetime dream for Republicans like House Speaker Paul Ryan, and a move Republicans will justify as being needed to reduce the debt that they’re working to increase through their tax plan:
In recent days, Ryan said he hopes to embark on entitlement and welfare reform next year. He has said entitlement reform — an overhaul of programs like Medicare and Medicaid that has been his priority since his days as Budget chairman — is essential for tackling the debt, which is set to surge by $1 trillion under the Republican tax reform bill, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.
This is class war from above gone nuclear, and don’t for one instant believe that they’re going to come for food stamps and Medicaid and housing and then stop with the programs that you rely on.