A bill passed by the North Carolina legislature would end most food assistance programs for able-bodied adults unless they work at least 20 hours a week.
This controversial new bill, House Bill 318, seeks to make landing a job a more urgent need for those who receive food stamps. Unless you can prove you are either working, volunteering or in a job training program, you could see your food benefits slashed.
While the bill is considered highly controversial for this as well as its other provisions, bill sponsor Representative George Cleveland isn't worried.
"I don't have a problem cutting off food stamps to able-bodied individuals," he said in an interview with News & Observer.
However, the bill still has several skeptics.
Tazra Mitchell of the North Carolina Budget and Tax Center called it a "policy failure" in an interview with WRAL last Friday. "In the rural counties, especially, it's going to hurt even harder because there's not a robust transportation network for folks to use if they don't have a car to keep looking for work so they can land a job," she said.
Democratic Representative Paul Luebke of Durham had a similar concern.
"What about the number of rural counties where there is high unemployment and jobs are minimal?" he asked in an interview with News & Observer.
The massive labor union AFL-CIO chapter in North Carolina referred to the bill as "bullying the unemployed and working poor" and force residents seeking a job "into deeper hunger."
Graham and Scotland county N.C. have the largest unemployment rates in the state according to Bureau of Labor Statistics making them the biggest ones to suffer.
In addition to halting federally subsidized food assistance to certain individuals the bill also seeks to prevent local governments from intervening in arrest process for undocumented immigrants and limits the amount of documents and I.D. that undocumented immigrants can use. It also requires business owners to use E-Verify to ensure they are not hiring illegal aliens.
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