Two Birds, One Stone: Congressman Reveals Simple Way to Cut Border Crossings and Welfare Spending
Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie has an incredibly simple proposal for reducing both welfare spending and illegal immigration.
As the new Congress convened, the lawmaker took to social media and asked how anyone can argue against “work requirements for able-bodied individuals on welfare.”
He then noted how passing a simple work requirement could address two of the most severe drains on the nation while benefiting the economy as a whole.
“Implement this and not only does the deficit go down, demand for illegal immigrant labor is reduced, and national economic productivity increases,” Massie wrote of his proposal.
“Republicans should pass this immediately,” he added.
How can anyone argue against work requirements for able-bodied individuals on welfare?
Implement this and not only does the deficit go down, demand for illegal immigrant labor is reduced, and national economic productivity increases.
Republicans should pass this immediately.
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) January 6, 2025
There could not be a more common-sense solution to several of our national problems than refusing to hand out free money to people who should otherwise be able to work.
Just consider the scope of this problem.
According to a report from the Foundation for Government Accountability published in May 2023, able-bodied adults were receiving $348 billion per year in Medicaid and $55 billion per year in food stamps.
All of those people sitting at home and letting their hardworking neighbors fund their lifestyles are also an implicit drain on the productivity of the nation.
“In addition to harming the truly needy and taxpayers, able-bodied adults on welfare affect the overall economy,” the report noted. “This can be seen in the slow growth the country is experiencing. Much of this can be attributed to a shortage of workers.”
When people born in the United States do not work, there are more incentives to keep the borders open and to flood the country with overseas laborers.
That dynamic also has implications for the welfare state.
Steven Camarota, the director or research at the Center for Immigration Studies, testified before the House Budget Committee last year that a “large share” of illegal immigrants “qualify for welfare programs.”
They often receive benefits on behalf of their children born in the United States.
Camarota estimated, “59 percent of households headed by illegal immigrants use one or more major welfare programs,” which easily exceeds the 39 percent of households headed by Americans who use welfare.
That is one of the main reasons why illegal immigrants induce more taxpayer expenses than they pay in taxes, meaning they are a “net fiscal drain” on our state and federal governments.
The data, in other words, prove that Massie is completely correct.
If lawmakers were to implement basic work requirements for those who want to receive welfare, then more Americans would return to work, less illegal immigrants would flood into our country, and our government would spend less money.
As Massie said, there is no reason why our new Republican leadership, armed with a mandate to close our borders and cut waste, should not be able to pass this immediately.
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