House Republicans are trying to sort out their policy differences on their budget bill, and the press is looking for fissures that could sink the bill. But that’s no reason to shun the harder issues, and one of them is the need to fix the dysfunctional federal food assistance program.

The House Agriculture Committee is shooting to save $230 billion over 10 years, and a big account is the roughly $100 billion a year Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Despite what you read elsewhere, Republicans aren’t indifferent to whether children and the poor have enough to eat.

But more than 41 million Americans are on food stamps, and the program long ago ceased to be temporary help for those who fall on hard times. Enrollment doesn’t shrink any longer in a strong economy as it should, and the rolls include millions of adults who can work. The program is contributing to one of America’s most pressing social ailments: Prime-age men attenuated from work and its attendant disciplines and contributions to society.

The program on paper requires that able-bodied adults without dependents work part-time or lose benefits after three months. Yet the Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC), a think tank, estimates that a mere 16% of these adults work 20 hours a week or more. Government data suggests that only 28% of such adults have earned income.