Thousands of Kansans could lose their food stamps under a new state policy congressional Republicans hope to put into practice nationwide.

Kansas's officials indicated that they would reinstate work requirements for food stamp recipients who are able-bodied adults without dependent children. Under the new policy, those aged 18 to 49 will need to work at least 20 hours per week or enroll in a job-training program within three months in order to continue to receive benefits from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

"We know that employment is the most effective way to escape poverty," Phyllis Gilmore, secretary of the Kansas Department of Children and Families, said in a statement that an estimated 20,000 Kansas SNAP recipients would be affected.

Federal law allows able-bodied adults without children to receive nutrition assistance for only three months if they don't get jobs or sign up for training, but states can waive the requirement during periods of high unemployment -- something more than 45 states currently do. Kansas will join Delaware, New Hampshire, Vermont, Wyoming and Utah as states that don't waive the able-bodied work requirement for food stamps. Oklahoma and Wisconsin also intend to allow their waivers to drop.

Last month Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives signaled they will push legislation to curtail all states' use of the waivers. The percentage of able-bodied jobless Americans on SNAP rose from 6.6 percent to 9.7 percent of the overall food stamp population between 2007 to 2010, according to the Congressional Research Service. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank in Washington, D.C., estimates that eliminating the waivers nationally would deprive some 4 million Americans of nutrition assistance.