GOP Now Wants Poor to Work for Their Food Stamps : Welfare: Republicans also want to impose a time limit. New restrictions would end the wide availability of a program designed to curb hunger.

In an abrupt change of course on welfare reform, Republican leaders in Congress have decided to subject the government’s $27-billion food stamp program to the same kind of stringent work requirements that they intend to impose on cash benefits, according to congressional sources.

The plan, details of which will be released later in the week, also would allow states to set time limits for food stamp eligibility similar to the time limits they plan for cash welfare.

Under the proposal, able-bodied people between 18 and 50 without dependent children would be required to work within months of receiving food stamps.

Although food stamps would be retained as a federal program, states would have authority to impose some of their own rules, such as eliminating food stamps to recipients who lose their eligibility for cash assistance under Aid to Families with Dependent Children, according to the new rules, which are being drafted by the House Agriculture Committee.

The development could have far-reaching implications for the federal program, which for decades has been the most generous and widely available part of the safety net for the poor in the United States.

Other welfare programs were provided only to certain people--families with dependent children, the elderly or disabled--but food stamps have been available to anyone who was hungry and poor. The changes agreed upon by the House leadership would put an end to that.

The GOP welfare reform plan attached to the “contract with America” did not call for work restrictions on food stamps but envisioned handing control of the program to the states. Republican leaders decided only a few days ago not to follow through with their original plans.

By retaining the program at the federal level, House Republicans stressed, they would maintain one program to smooth the transition as states were taking over much of the rest of the safety net for the poor.

But GOP congressional aides said Wednesday that the federal food stamp program would be changed to reflect the same philosophies driving the reform of other welfare programs: People should only receive public assistance if they work and Congress should restrict the growth of welfare programs.

The GOP food stamp initiative would prevent the costs of the program from growing, the aides said. Predictions show that under current law, costs for food stamps would expand from $27 billion to $35 billion over five years. But congressional aides said that the new measure would cut costs from the current level.

About 40 million people use food stamps during the course of a year and at any one time about 25 million people receive the benefit. Twenty percent of all households receiving food stamps currently have some earned income.

Administration officials said that they did not have a response to the GOP plan to place work restrictions on food stamps but stressed that the measure represents a dramatic departure from the goals of the program first set by President John F. Kennedy when he created it in 1961.

While income maintenance programs like AFDC have had combined goals of supporting poor families and helping them get on their feet again, the only goal of food stamps has been to make sure people do not go hungry.

“You measure success of nutrition programs by whether they prevent hunger. It’s a different goal,” said Neil Flieger, deputy administrator of the Agriculture Department agency that runs the food stamp program. “The President’s (welfare reform) proposal recognized that nutrition programs were the ultimate safety net. Nutrition programs were not part of the package that was subject to a two-year time limit.”