The U.S. government spent one trillion dollars on government welfare last year. The food stamp program is the nation’s second largest welfare program.

Maine required able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) to work to get food stamps. These are work-capable adult recipients between the ages of 18 and 49 who do not have children or other dependents to support.

Here’s what happened…

According to the Daily Signal, job openings for lower-skill workers are abundant in Maine, and for those ABAWD recipients who cannot find immediate employment, Maine offers both training and community service slots. But despite vigorous outreach efforts by the government to encourage participation, most childless adult recipients in Maine refused to participate in training or even to perform community service for six hours per week. When ABAWD recipients refused to participate, their food stamp benefits ceased.

In the first three months after Maine’s work policy went into effect, its caseload of able-bodied adults without dependents plummeted by 80 percent, falling from 13,332 recipients in Dec. 2014 to 2,678 in March 2015.