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Mike Kennedy: “Louisiana is not the same as Utah, not the same as New York…”

Featuring: Mike Kennedy, Republican | U.S. House Utah, 3rd Congressional District

Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements

Published April 29, 2025 | Video Starts at 41:28

Yes, it will be a patchwork quilt of solutions for these complicated problems programs. But let's be honest, Louisiana is not the same as Utah, not the same as New York City, not the same as Alabama. is. Each city in each county, each state is going to have some circumstances. And as a state legislator myself, I was always really interested in, even on the state … (41:28–41:33)

CLAIM

Asserts that different states and cities have unique circumstances.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Mike Kennedy

“Right now, you can buy the number one purchase benefit on SNAP is soda.”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 25:07-25:13
“The let's get to work act is really interesting because I started working formally when I was 12 years old.”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 02:07-02:19
“Washington D.C. is smaller and Utah is bigger and its governor and the state legislature more powerful.”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 03:56-46:21
“Growing up, receiving government assistance and working since I was 12, I know firsthand that the key to making government support truly…”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 04:58-05:13
“Work is a blessing, not a curse, and we should consider it that way [in the context of the SNAP benefit, food stamp sort of circumstance].”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 04:58-05:13
“I was on the free school lunch program at my school since starting in seventh grade, all the way through 12th grade.”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 07:28-07:31
“These kind of policies that in the government we're trying to effectuate are, are that kind of example where we do pair an ennobling…”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 08:40-08:54
“There are some people that feel like, yeah, that's how it should be, is you receive welfare for life. I think that that's dehumanizing for…”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 09:22-09:35
“We should help them to get out of the program so they can be self-sufficient and, and develop that self-esteem that comes associated with…”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 09:34-09:43
“If you're disabled, you are excluded from the requirements associated with [SNAP benefits].”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 15:35-15:40
“You can receive SNAP benefits if you're disabled and that disability is declared by a doctor.”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 15:39-15:45
“You can receive [SNAP benefits] for as long as the federal government's willing to give those without any obligation.”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 15:39-25:51
“If you have dependent children that are less than school aged opportunities, then you also are excluded from this [SNAP work requirements].”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 15:44-15:57
“You don't even have to have a job. You have to look for a job. You can volunteer your time as well.”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 18:10-18:15
“There's a lot of flexibility associated with this [SNAP bill].”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 18:22-18:25
“SNAP benefits currently, and SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is that it used to be called food stamps.”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 24:46-24:53
“Those SNAP benefits are not dependent on any sort of criteria outside of your income level and the number of children that you have.”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 25:38-25:46
“We value mothers and fathers helping children in the home.”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 27:52-27:57
“If you have some sort of disability, then you're going to be exempted from the requirements associated with [work expectations].”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 28:50-28:56
“There are people abusing the program at this point. We know that.”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 29:42-29:46
“We also know that through Medicaid that there's abuse throughout the country of how these programs work.”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 29:45-29:51
“With $36 trillion of debt, we are not doing a good job with [managing our financial house].”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 30:21-30:25
“During COVID with the expanded unemployment benefits that people were making more on unemployment than they could going out in the market.”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 32:17-32:27
“The federal government paints with a broad brush. It is too large and often instead of a scalpel it's using the meat cleaver sort of…”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 33:34-33:46
“These are federal state coalitions and we need to empower the states to have the innovative capacity to execute on different aspects of…”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 33:54-34:07
“When we empower states to do things for their citizens, not only are they more accountable, they're actually more accurate in executing the…”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 35:06-35:18
“The federal government doesn't do a good job with these things. There are too many states and too many different circumstances.”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 38:07-38:16
“My effort would be to more block grant those dollars to states with some parameters for performance.”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 38:33-38:40
“Medicaid, which I know quite well because I've lived in that environment, is a 70% federal, 30% state payment process.”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 39:34-39:45
“On Obamacare it's 90, 10, federal pays 90 and the state pays 10%.”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 39:55-40:01
“The states created the federal government, not the other way around.”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 40:32-40:35
“The federal government has become the dominant player in all of our politics and all of our programs.”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 40:34-40:40
“Republicans are at this point working on budget reconciliation, which you may have heard about.”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 43:55-44:00
“The Republican Party, which of course has the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives at this point with a 51 senator vote…”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 44:05-44:17
“Every taxpayer in this country does not have a significant increase in their taxes at the end of this year.”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 44:20-44:26
“We're promoting the 2017 Trump tax cuts. We want to make sure that those are made permanent or made as as long as possible, the 10 year…”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 44:25-44:35
“President Trump is focused on no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and he's talking about no tax on purchasing of vehicles.”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 44:50-44:58
“Washington has so much power is because it takes a lot of money from a lot of people.”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 45:07-45:12
“We want to make sure that the states are empowered.”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 45:47-45:50
“The Republican Party and I think you're seeing that from the president all the way down, is empowering states to take action on their own.”
Why Rep. Mike Kennedy Says Welfare Needs Stronger Work Requirements | Uploaded April 29, 2025 | 46:34-46:41