; and (2) SNAP should be reformed to improve work requirements to help more people escape poverty and move up the economic ladder. 519. Policy Statement on State flexibility in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (a) Findings The House finds the following: (1) Spending on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has almost quadrupled since 2001. (2) Various factors are driving this growth, but one major reason is that while States have the responsibility of administering the program, they have little incentive to ensure it is well run. (3) In 1996, a Republican Congress and a Democratic President reformed welfare by limiting the duration of benefits, giving States more control over the program, and helping recipients find work. In the 5 years following passage, child-poverty rates fell, welfare caseloads fell, and workers’ wages increased. This bipartisan success offers a model for improving other anti-poverty programs. (b) Policy on State Flexibility in SNAP It is the policy of this concurrent resolution that SNAP should be reformed to reduce poverty and increase opportunity and upward mobility for struggling Americans on the road to personal and financial independence. Based on the successful welfare reforms of the 1990s, these proposals would improve work requirements and provide flexible funding for States to help those most in need find gainful employment, escape poverty, and move up the economic ladder. 520. Policy statement on higher education and workforce development opportunity (a) Findings on higher education The House finds the following: (1) A well-educated, high-skilled workforce is critical to economic, job, and wage growth. (2) Average published tuition and fees have increased consistently above the rate of inflation across all types of colleges and universities. (3) With an outstanding student loan portfolio of $1.3 trillion, the Federal Government is the largest education lender to undergraduate and graduate students, parents, and other guarantors. (4) Students who do not complete