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President Donald Trump’s proposed budget would require able-bodied food stamp recipients to work as a requirement for benefit eligibility. Work-for-welfare was established via the welfare reforms under President Bill Clinton, but such requirements for certain welfare programs were suspended by Barack Obama’s Department of Agriculture due to the Great Recession, and it was up to the states to individually re-implement work requirements for benefits.

A number of states have opted to reintroduce those work requirements - and have seen enormous dividends paid to the taxpayer, and those previously on welfare, as a result.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, welfare reform implemented in Kansas caused individuals to reenter the labor force while earning higher incomes, according to a report from the Foundation for Government Accountability.

Kansas Republican Gov. Sam Brownback took office in 2011 and began to implement welfare reform after the previous governor, Kathleen Sebelius, had relaxed requirements for those on welfare to work or search for employment.

From 2000 to 2011, the number of able-bodied adults on cash welfare was increasing by 42 percent in Kansas, while nationally the number on welfare had dropped by a third.

The study found that those who left welfare saw their earnings increase by 104 percent in one year, which is $20 million more than they had while on welfare. In four years, these individuals saw their incomes increase by 247 percent.

“Critics of work requirements frequently suggest that enrollees who leave welfare are only able to find low-wage, entry-level employment,” the report states. “Able-bodied adults removed from TANF found employment in more than 600 different industries, ranging from health care to finance to information technology. Even better, those who did find initial employment in entry-level jobs—such as those in food service, retail, or temp agencies—quickly found longer-term, higher-paying jobs.”

Finally, the report finds that enrollment in the TANF program has begun to decline again. Since Brownback took office in 2011, participation in the program has declined by 78 percent, while nationally enrollment has declined by only 14 percent.

It’s seldom the case in politics that everybody wins from a policy - but that’s just the case here. Those who leave welfare empower themselves, while drawing less in public benefits and becoming taxpayers themselves. The best way to help the poor isn’t to help them while they’re poor - it’s to prevent them from being poor.

[Note: This post was written by Matt Palumbo. He is a co-author of the new book A Paradoxical Alliance: Islam and the Left, and can be found on Twitter @MattPalumbo12]