PORTLAND, Maine - The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture has criticized Maine Gov. Paul LePage's food stamp benefits cuts, saying the state hasn't done enough to help now-disqualified unemployed adults.
The Portland Press Herald reports that more than 12,000 unemployed, childless Maine residents were removed from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program from November 2014 to November 2015 after LePage's administration began enforcing federal work requirements.
The requirements had been waived since the recession, but Maine and Kansas were the lone two states to end the work-requirement before it expired this year.
Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday that he believes LePage is looking for shortcuts to make it easy on the state. But Vilsack said the state isn't doing its part in finding jobs for the disqualified adults or helping them learn skills.