People who have experienced domestic violence can have trouble finding and keeping jobs because of physical injuries and their abusers’ efforts to sabotage their employment.

Denying waivers to survivors can hinder their ability to gain financial independence and could place them at risk for returning to their abusive partner as a way to meet their housing and child care needs.

The debt-ceiling deal struck between the White House and Republican leaders now pending in Congress would exempt people who are experiencing homelessness, former foster youth and veterans from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program work requirements. Known as SNAP, that program provides low-income people with money they must spend on groceries.

Our findings show that even with exemptions in place for at-risk groups, people who are eligible for such exceptions do not automatically get them.

That same deal also includes provisions that may encourage states to further restrict TANF waivers by setting stricter overall work requirement goals for all parents who get this aid.

In states with more lenient work requirements, such as not immediately stopping benefits when people miss work requirement targets, and more generous financial incentives, people who get TANF benefits tend to have better and higher-paying jobs when they exit the program. In contrast, recent research indicates that taking TANF benefits away from domestic violence survivors can increase the risk that they will experience further abuse.

We plan to expand our analysis to include the entire country and to see how waivers can be successfully used to help domestic violence survivors escape poverty.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. The Conversation has a variety of fascinating free newsletters.

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GOP’s proposed expansion of SNAP work requirements targets many low-income people in their early 50s – but many of them already work

Kristina Nikolova Andrea Hetling receives funding from the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Grant Number 90PE0044.

Andrea Hetling receives funding from the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Grant Number 90PE0043-01-01.