Millions of Americans who are working full-time jobs still rely on federal health care and food assistance programs because of low wages, a bipartisan congressional watchdog says.

A report from the Government Accountability Office found that about 70% of adult workers participating in Medicaid, which provides health care to low-income Americans, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, are working full time. Most worked for private sector employers in places like restaurants, department stores and grocery stores, according to the report.

Data from the Oklahoma Health Care Authority shows that 1,043,474 people – 25% of Oklahoma’s population – are enrolled in Oklahoma SoonerCare, or Medicaid, as of June 2024. AllSides highlights content from Gigafact, a network of newsrooms that respond to online claims. View the full fact brief on Oklahoma Watch.

The farm bill, which governs nutrition, agriculture, and conservation policy, is up for renewal again, and the negotiations in Congress have hit a familiar road block: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, an anti-hunger program used by millions of low-income Americans. House Republicans and Senate Democrats have introduced competing versions of the bill, and they differ significantly when it comes to the so-called nutrition title, which includes funding for SNAP.

The U.S. made remarkable strides in reducing poverty in recent decades, but one group was left behind — working-age adults who aren't raising children.

Why it matters: While key tax breaks and support programs lift a significant percentage of children, parents and older Americans out of poverty, they barely move the needle on this group, finds a striking series of papers from the Hamilton Project at Brookings released Wednesday.

Each year, the U.S. Congress allocates over $400 million for food assistance to support more than 250,000 residents of Puerto Rico who are able-bodied adults without dependents, and are between the ages of 18 and 54. Notably, this financial assistance does not come with a work obligation. Congress does not apply this approach to any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, or even to Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Since Mike Johnson’s recent ascent to House speaker, food insecurity advocates have been sounding the alarm. As Politico reported last week, Johnson is a proponent of more hard-line efforts to overhaul America’s largest anti-hunger program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which currently serves over 40 million people. 

In 2018, per the publication, he referred to SNAP as “our nation’s most broken and bloated welfare program.” 

Democratic San Francisco Mayor London Breed on Tuesday unveiled a plan to require anyone receiving welfare to comply with mandatory drug testing and treatment programs amid growing pressure to get ahold of the city’s homeless and fentanyl crises – the same day a new primary challenger in next year's election entered the race.

President Joe Biden’s war on poverty is unraveling fast.

Just two years after orchestrating the largest expansion of the U.S. safety net in a half-century, Biden’s $2 trillion bet that big-government policies could vastly improve life for the poorest Americans is coming to a close.

Harvard University recently encouraged its graduate students to enroll in government food assistance programs amid ongoing discussions about its immense wealth and growing scrutiny regarding the extent of support provided to its student community.

Harvard’s Health Services office circulated a flier promoting a sign-up event encouraging graduate students to participate in the SNAP program, Yahoo Finance reported. 

Some Republicans aren’t enthused about the debt-ceiling deal that Speaker Kevin McCarthy brokered with President Biden—not enough spending cuts, too few policy concessions. But one reason the deal is worth passing: The provisions on work and welfare are incremental progress the GOP can build on.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act makes several changes to social safety net programs, notably food stamps. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program imposes a three-month limit on able-bodied adults under age 50 without dependent children—unless they work or train 20 hours a week.