The Weekly is a rundown of news by the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission highlighting the week’s top news stories from the public square and providing commentary on the big issues of our day.

White House and House GOP Unveil Proposals to Reform Welfare Programs

Earlier this week President Trump signed an executive order to strengthen work requirements for federal welfare programs. The order states that public assistance programs will be reformed so that the welfare system “empowers people in a manner that is consistent with applicable law and the following principles, which shall be known as the Principles of Economic Mobility.”

The order includes several principles, including: promoting “strong social networks as a way of sustainably escaping poverty (including through work and marriage)”; addressing “the challenges of populations that may particularly struggle to find and maintain employment (including single parents, formerly incarcerated individuals, the homeless, substance abusers, individuals with disabilities, and disconnected youth)”; reserving benefits for “people with low incomes and limited assets”; and empowering “the private sector, as well as local communities, to develop and apply locally based solutions to poverty.”

The order also requires that within 90 days the Secretaries of the Treasury, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, and Education recommend possible changes to current programs that are “consistent with the principles outlined in this order.”

In a similar effort to reform welfare programs, House Republicans introduced as part of the 2018 Farm Bill new work requirements in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). SNAP provides nutritional support for low-wage working families, low-income seniors, and people with disabilities living on fixed incomes. Almost 70 percent of SNAP participants are in families with children, while nearly a third are in households with seniors or people with disabilities. 

This program, which was formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, is used by more than 40 million Americans. In fiscal year 2017, the federal government spent about $70 billion on SNAP and other food assistance programs. Ninety-three percent of SNAP spending went directly to benefits that households used to purchase food, according o the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. The monthly SNAP benefits average $125.80 per person.

SNAP rules currently require all recipients to meet work requirements unless they are exempt because of age, disability, or another specific exempt reason. Almost two-thirds of all SNAP participants are in an exempt category (children, seniors, and those with disabilities) while 43 percent of the program’s participants live in a household with earnings.

Since the welfare reform changes first implemented in 1996, SNAP has had a time limit for able-bodied adults between the ages of 18 and 49 who do not have dependents (what the program refers to as an “ABAWD”). An ABAWD can only get SNAP for three months in three years if they do not meet certain special work requirements. To be eligible beyond the time limit, the ABAWD must work at least 80 hours per month, participate in qualifying education and training activities at least 80 hours per month, or comply with a workfare program (i.e., unpaid work through a special state-approved program).

Among other changes, the GOP proposal would establish a new, single work standard for adults ages 18 to 59, requiring them to hold at least a part-time job within a month of applying for benefits. As many as seven million adults will be subject to the new rules, according to Republican staff.

The proposal also funds and expands state education, training, and workfare programs. It would also require unemployed, working-age SNAP recipients to enroll, which they were previously not required to do. The proposal requires that states makes a slot available for every adult who is eligible, with exceptions for pregnant women, people with disabilities, and parents with children younger than six years old.

According to preliminary estimates by the Congressional Budget Office, the changes to the work requirements alone would cut SNAP rolls by as many as one million people over the next 10 years, notes the Washington Post.

This week on ERLC podcasts: Daniel Darling talks to Eric Geiger, vice president of Church Resources at LifeWay Christian Resources, about his new book, How to Ruin Your Life: and Starting Over When You Do. On the Capitol Conversations podcast, Matthew Hawkins talks to Herbie Newell, president of Lifeline Children’s Services, about opportunities and challenges facing adoption communities and how local churches can assist. On the Countermoves podcast, Andrew Walker talks to Tim Goeglein about the ten years since the death of William F. Buckley. And on the ERLC podcast, NFL player Benjamin Watson talks about being “Pro-life and Pro-justice.” 

Other Issues

American Culture

On the Internet, Nobody Knows You're a Kid
The Atlantic

On Tuesday, joining the dozens of lawmakers asking Mark Zuckerberg about Facebook's data practices, Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts posed a question: "Would you support a child online-privacy bill of rights for kids under 16 to guarantee that that information is not reused for any other purpose without explicit permission from the parents for the kids?" 

Bioethics

Abortion objectors may get a pass on health law penalty
Associated Press

Object to abortion? You may be able to get an exemption from the Affordable Care Act tax penalty for people don't have health insurance.

Can Lost Embryos Give Rise to a Wrongful-Death Suit?
The Atlantic

Over a single weekend in March, an unprecedented disaster hit fertility clinics—twice. First came the news that the University Hospitals Fertility Center in Ohio, lost more than 4,000 eggs and embryos in a malfunctioning cryogenic tank. 

At Hearing Judicial Nominee Retreats From Prior Pro-Life Comments
Religion Clause

Yesterday the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the nomination of Wendy Vitter to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana. NPR reports on the hearing: Wendy Vitter, nominated by President Trump for a federal judgeship, tried Wednesday to walk back several controversial comments she made about abortion and birth control. 

Posthumous conception raises 'host of ethical issues'
Baptist Press

The legal and moral propriety of conceiving a child with a dead person's egg or sperm is among the latest fronts being discussed in bioethics.

The Physician-Assisted Suicide Movement Is Gaining Ground in Two Major Ways
Public Discourse

The state of Hawaii has become the latest jurisdiction in the United States to legalize physician-assisted suicide. The Hawaii governor just signed legislation sent to him by Hawaii's House of Representatives and State Senate that authorizes physician-assisted suicide in the state, effective January 1, 2019. 

Christianity and Culture

Pastor at church attended by 25,000 steps down amid misconduct allegations
ABC News

Bill Hybels made the announcement more than six months before he was to retire.

Christian women in the U.S. are more religious than their male counterparts
Pew Research Center

More than seven-in-ten U.S. Christian women say religion is very important in their lives, compared with 62% of the country's Christian men.

Family Issues

The Effects of Marriage Begin Before Marriage
Institute for Family Studies Blog

Having a long-term view supports the ability to delay gratification and invest in the future. Having a short-term view provides no reason to delay and favors immediate gratification. These points are central to understanding marriage and cohabitation, as well as how people manage money. 

International Issues

Created for Asylum Seekers, Israel Intends to Deport Thousands
Christianity Today

40,000 African migrants—many of whom are Christians fleeing Eritrea or Sudan—considered "infiltrators" in need of urgent deportation. The fate of thousands of African Christians living in Israel is uncertain. The government intends to expel them, but questions remain over where the migrants will go and how the Jewish state will make it happen. 

Rwanda closes thousands of churches, arrests 6 pastors
Baptist Press

An estimated 6,000 churches have been closed across Rwanda and six pastors arrested in a government crackdown that began March 1 with 700 closures in the nation's capital of Kigali, according to news reports.

Religious Liberty

New Jersey making it harder to get a religious exemption from childhood vaccinations
Hot Air 

Some potentially big news out of the Garden State this week deals with new rules regarding childhood vaccinations and provisions for parents who object to such treatments on religious grounds. Now that Chris Christie is out of the way and unable to ruin all the good times for Democrats, they've begun moving on some policy initiatives which wouldn't have previously made it into law.  

Sexuality Issues

The Law Should Protect Children, Not Sexual Expressionism
The Federalist

When I began writing on matters of sexuality, household structure, and children's outcome—which yielded unpleasant experiences from which I'm still smarting—I had little sense or interest in family law. I realize some recalcitrant critics won't believe it, but I didn't really know until five years ago what exactly an amicus brief was, nor the difference between a U.S. circuit court and a district court.

Therapy bans, the new battlefield
Baptist Press

In the last few weeks, at least four states have taken action on laws barring therapists from counseling individuals about their sexual orientation or gender identity, other than to encourage homosexuality or transgenderism.