Oklahoma House Passes Food Stamp Employment Measure

The Oklahoma House has passed legislation requiring certain food stamp recipients to work.

The House voted 86-11 for the measure Monday and sent it to the Senate for action.

The bill by House Speaker T.W. Shannon of Lawton requires able-bodied food stamp recipients between the ages of 18 and 50 who are not disabled or raising a child to perform at least 20 hours of "work activities" each week. An amendment reduced the amount of work from 35 hours a week.

Rep. Jason Nelson of Oklahoma City says the bill would affect about 1,000 of the more than 600,000 Oklahomans who receive food stamps. Rep. Mike Shelton of Oklahoma City says it should not harm recipients who work and still can't make ends meet.