Report: Millions of full-time US workers get government aid
WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of Americans who are working full-time jobs still rely on federal health care and food assistance programs because of low wages, a bipartisan congressional watchdog says.
A report from the Government Accountability Office found that about 70% of adult workers participating in Medicaid, which provides health care to low-income Americans, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, are working full time.
The report was requested by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, who said its findings show an urgent need to raise the federal minimum wage.
“At a time when huge corporations like Walmart and McDonald’s are making billions in profits and giving their CEOs tens of millions of dollars a year, they’re relying on corporate welfare from the federal government by paying their workers starvation wages.," Sanders said in a statement. "This is morally obscene.”
He said it was long past time to increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $15.
In the report issued Wednesday, the GAO analyzed data from 15 state agencies covering 11 states, with each agency reporting the employers in their states with the largest numbers of Medicaid and food-stamp beneficiaries.
Among the 15 agencies overseeing the Medicaid and food-stamp programs, Walmart was among the top four employers with beneficiaries in each of the 15 programs. McDonald’s was among the top five employers whose workers received federal benefits from 13 of the 15 state agencies.
Other companies that appeared frequently were Dollar Tree and Dollar General.
Sanders said an analysis of the GAO data showed that across nine of the states reviewed — Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Nebraska, North Carolina, Tennessee and Washington...
