This policy makes absolutely no sense whatsoever—neither social sense, economic sense, or political sense. — Brad DeLong

This policy makes absolutely no sense whatsoever—neither social sense, economic sense, or political sense. Yet it rolls forward, with no resistance from legislators of the president's party: American Progress: Cruelty for Cruelty's Sake: 'This week, President Donald Trump issued a new, cruel rule that will strip nearly 700,000 struggling people of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) benefits. In its announcement of the rule, the U.S. Department of Agriculture cited a strong economy and protection of U.S. taxpayer money as reasons for the changes to SNAP benefits. But a new CAP survey on voter opinions on the economy, government, and poverty finds that despite headlines touting a booming economy, a majority of voters are still struggling economically/….

Actually, this policy makes perfect sense in terms of economic liberalism aka "capitalism." The basic premise is that when the economy is doing well, wage pressure increases, so welfare benefits should be curtailed in order to force the unemployed into the labor market to increase competition for available jobs, thereby oversetting wage pressure.

Grasping Reality
This policy makes absolutely no sense whatsoever—neither social sense, economic sense, or political sense.
Brad DeLong | Professor of Economics, UCAL Berkeley