A major part of the 11th-hour budget deal is the addition of work requirements to Food Stamp programs. Although Republicans brought us to a near catastrophe claiming all kinds of concerns about the budget, they showed their real interests at the final bargaining table.

Right from the start, the real budget issues — defense, Medicare and Social Security — were off the table. So was discussion of increasing taxes on the rich. So, if you can’t save real money and you won’t raise income, what are you going to do about the budget? Mostly nothing.

But to have something to show and win points with the fans at home, Republicans held all of us hostage, to — among other things — slap more work requirements on the neediest among us.

Do work requirements get people into the workforce? Abundant studies say “no” because people who can work, do.

What is accomplished through the additional bureaucracy and paperwork is to drive people further into poverty through denial of benefits, while adding more to the cost of running these programs.

Steve Bien, Jay