As governor of Maine, Paul LePage put a five-year lifetime limit on cash welfare into the budget he signed in June 2011. By May 2013 more than 1,500 Maine families with about 2,700 children had lost their cash aid, and a University of Maine survey found many of them turned to food banks, lost electricity or were evicted.
LePage's administration also reinstated the federal time limit on food stamps for adults without children, removing more than 9,000 Mainers by March 2015, and in 2015 added an asset test that its own health department said would reach about 8,600 food stamp recipients.
Running for Maine's 2nd District in 2025, LePage claimed Democrats had "destroyed" the welfare system he had "fixed."
Paul LePage's Welfare and Food Stamp Cuts as Governor of Maine
- LePage Put a Five-Year Lifetime Limit on Cash Aid for Poor Families. Governor Paul LePage included a 60-month lifetime limit on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families in his biennial budget, which he signed on June 20, 2011 as Public Law 2011, chapter 380; Maine had not used the federal option for such a limit before. The limit took effect in January 2012. By the time University of Maine researcher Sandra Butler reported in 2013, more than 1,500 families with 2,700 children had lost their cash benefits under the limit. Of the families she surveyed, nearly 70 percent went to a food bank after the cutoff, over a third had a utility such as electricity shut off, and one in five were evicted; their median income was $260 a month.
- LePage Reinstated the Food Stamp Time Limit, Removing More Than 9,000 Mainers. In 2014 Governor Paul LePage's administration began enforcing the federal work rule on food stamps statewide: adults without disabilities or dependents could get help for no more than three months unless they worked or trained at least 20 hours a week. The Bangor Daily News editorial board later called it a change that did not have to happen, since states can ask federal permission to relax the rule where jobs are scarce. The number of such adults on food stamps fell from 12,000 to 2,680, and by March 24, 2015 more than 9,000 Mainers had been removed from the program, more than his administration had expected. The editorial board later put the total who lost food stamps at more than 10,000.
- LePage Added a $5,000 Asset Test for Food Stamps. On September 16, 2015, Governor Paul LePage's Department of Health and Human Services announced that adults without children who had more than $5,000 in countable assets, such as savings or a second vehicle, would lose food stamp eligibility, a change made by rule without a vote of the Legislature. LePage said: "Welfare is a last resort, not a way of life." The department estimated the rule would reach about 8,600 food stamp recipients.
- LePage Claimed He Fixed Maine's Welfare System. In a May 15, 2025 interview on WVOM, Paul LePage argued that Democrats "destroyed" the welfare system in Maine after he "fixed" it, the Bangor Daily News reported. While his limits were in force, the number of Maine children living in the deepest poverty rose as it fell nationally, the Bangor Daily News editorial board wrote in 2016. The board also cited federal agriculture data showing that in 2015 only two states had a larger share of households with very low food security than Maine's 7.4 percent.
What Paul LePage's Welfare Limits Meant for Maine Families, Food Pantries and Towns
- Maine's cash-aid caseload fell 60 percent while more than $110 million in federal aid went unspent. After the limit took effect, Maine's TANF caseload fell 60 percent and some 13,000 fewer children received help than in May 2012, while more than $110 million in federal TANF money built up unspent, the Bangor Daily News editorial board reported in 2016, citing the Legislature's nonpartisan fiscal office.
- Food stamp rolls in Maine fell faster than in the rest of the country and pantry use rose. Maine's food stamp caseload dropped by more than 16 percent after September 2014, to 186,000 from 222,000. In a 2016 survey of 2,000 food pantry users by Good Shepherd Food Bank and Preble Street, a quarter said they had lost food stamps in the past year and 59 percent were using pantries more than the year before.
- Cities picked up the cost when families hit the cash-aid limit. Families cut off by the time limit turned to General Assistance, the emergency aid program run by Maine's cities and towns: by September 2012 Portland had paid an extra $26,730 to 28 households, 111 people, whose TANF had expired.
Frequently Asked Questions About Paul LePage on Homelessness and poverty
What is Paul LePage's record on homelessness and poverty under Trump?
Paul LePage's record on poverty comes from his years as Maine governor: he put a five-year limit on cash welfare that cut off more than 1,500 families by mid-2013, and his administration reinstated the food stamp time limit and added an asset test. Running for Congress in 2025, he said Democrats had undone the welfare system he "fixed." Under his limits, food pantry use in Maine rose and the state's very-low food security rate was among the highest in the country.
Did Paul LePage cut food stamps in Maine?
Yes. Paul LePage's administration began enforcing the federal food stamp work rule statewide in 2014, and more than 9,000 adults without children were removed within months; in 2015 it added a $5,000 asset test by department rule. Between 2014 and 2015 no state's food stamp participation fell faster than Maine's, according to the Bangor Daily News editorial board.
What happened to Maine families who lost welfare under Paul LePage's time limit?
Paul LePage's 60-month limit left most families surveyed by University of Maine researcher Sandra Butler in deep poverty: about 40 percent had no income of any kind once the cash aid stopped, and 39 percent reported a disability that limited their work. Only a quarter of the people scheduled to be cut off received a hardship extension.
Last updated: 2026-10-26