In the Press: Trump Accounts, Devolving SNAP To The States, And Podcast Post-Govt Shutdown
Trump accounts are another political giveaway.
Daniel de Visé quotes Boccia in USA Today:
“I think most parents are going to be better off saving in a 529 for their children rather than this new Trump Account, but it certainly makes sense to collect on the $1,000 contribution […] a blatant giveaway, and a way for the Trump administration, in their hopes, to leave a permanent mark by naming a rather useless savings account after the current president.”
Devolve 100% of SNAP funding to the states by a block-grant phaseout.
Thérèse Boudreaux reports for The Center Square:
While the SNAP reforms in Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill “were a step in the right direction,” Boccia told The Center Square, “the ideal is for states to assume full responsibility for how they run and fund their programs.”
“That would give them both the flexibility and the accountability to operate SNAP more efficiently and tailor benefits to the needs of their residents,” Boccia said. “That is superior to today’s SNAP structure, where states face almost no incentive to control costs because they can simply pass the bill to federal taxpayers.”
[…]
“States with high caseloads might need to raise taxes to sustain their current enrollment, but we saw after the 1996 welfare reforms – when TANF was block-granted – that states tend to right-size and better target their programs rather than hike taxes to support very large welfare rolls,” Boccia said. “And even if a state chose to raise taxes, voters could hold their own legislators directly accountable for how those dollars are spent.”
[…]
“Any safety-net program should aim to reduce dependency and promote self-sufficiency,” Boccia said. “The goal of welfare, in most cases, should be to help people move off welfare, not onto it.”
Boccia reflects on reducing the size and scope of the federal government after the longest government shutdown in history.
On the Management Matters Podcast hosted by James-Christian Blockwood, Romina Boccia talks about ending shutdowns, avoiding partisan budget battles, debating COVID-era credits, and learning from federalism in Switzerland. She argues:
The U.S. has centralized far too much decision-making in Washington, turning every partisan dispute into a national drama. Federal policy should not be used to wage partisan fights such as COVID-era Obamacare subsidies for high-income households. Instead, Boccia contended that contentious, partisan policy debates should be left to the states. States can choose to fund programs through their own budgets, rather than the federal budget. She urged a renewed federalism in which Washington focuses on core national responsibilities, and lawmakers spend less time on shutdown drama and more time confronting the real fiscal crisis of autopilot entitlement spending.