Posted on 07/14/2012 7:53:40 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
This afternoon, President Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released an official policy directive undermining the welfare reform law of 1996. The new policy guts the federal work requirements that have been the foundation of that law — one of the most successful domestic policy reforms in the 20th century.
Welfare reform replaced the old Aid to Families with Dependent Children with a new program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). The underlying concept of welfare reform was that able-bodied adults should be required to work or prepare for work as a condition of receiving welfare aid.
The welfare reform law was very successful. In the four decades prior to welfare reform, the welfare caseload never experienced a significant decline. But, in the four years after welfare reform, the caseload dropped by nearly half. Employment surged and child poverty among blacks and single mothers plummeted to historic lows. What was the catalyst for these improvements? Rigorous new federal work requirements contained in TANF.
Contrary to some perceptions, the formula that made welfare reform a success was not giving state governments more flexibility in operating federally funded welfare programs. The active ingredient that made the difference was requiring state governments to implement those rigorous new federal work standards.
Today the Obama administration issued a dramatic new directive stating that the traditional TANF work requirements will be waived or overridden by a legal device called a section 1115 waiver authority under the Social Security law (42 U.S.C. 1315).
Section 1115 allows HHS to “waive compliance” with specified parts of various laws. But this is not an open-ended authority: All provisions of law that can be overridden under section 1115 must be listed in section 1115 itself.
The work provisions of the TANF program are contained in section 407 (entitled, appropriately, “mandatory work requirements”). Critically, this section, as well as most other TANF requirements, is deliberately not listed in section 1115; its provisions cannot be waived. Obviously, if the Congress had wanted HHS to be able to waive the TANF work requirements laid out in section 407, it would have listed that section as waivable under section 1115. It did not do that.
In the past, state bureaucrats have attempted to define activities such as hula dancing, attending Weight Watchers, and bed rest as “work.” Welfare reform instituted work standards to block these dodges. Now that the Obama administration has abolished those standards, we can expect “work” in the TANF program to mean anything but work.
Obama’s new welfare decree guts sound anti-poverty policy. The administration tramples on the actual legislation passed by Congress and seeks to impose its own policy choices — a pattern that has become all too common in this administration.
The result is the end of welfare reform as we know it.
— Robert Rector, a leading authority on poverty and the welfare system, is senior research fellow in domestic policy at the Heritage Foundation. Katherine (Kiki) Bradley, former associate director of the federal TANF program, is research fellow in Heritage’s DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society.
Save the nation. Anybody but Obama.
Unbelievable!
BTTT...
So, my take on this is that Obama is in deep trouble and recognizes it. I think they see a tremendous uphill battle in November and he is hell bent on putting his policies in place before leaving office. The people that he is helping here are already voting for him so he gains little, if any, voters out of this. This is about changing the country into the country he wants and thinks is best for him and his.
"I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents."-- James Madison, the father of the United States Constitution
People who are dependent and broken vote democrat. If their lives are ruined - if they become drug addicted and creepy - it’s not a problem... well, as long as they vote democrat...
One thing I’ll remember about the Obama years will be feeling stupid for working and paying my bills on time. ABO 2012.
And what has the Republican establishment done to make things better?
The Democrat plan is to continue along the road to ruin. But if Republicans can't come up with some ideas, we're all doomed to that path.
Simply slowing down the process isn't enough. SImply saying "no" and offering no alternative isn't enough.
The problem with the Republicans and conservatives right now is that they're conservative in their approach, in their thinking, and in their political behavior. They need to try and find NEW ways of applying standard conservative political principles. They need to stop being intellectually shy.
The safest assumption is the anything our FelonInChief says is a lie and does is illegal.
We can impeach him or vote him out. Time to do something.
Well the House Judiciary Committee claims the Obama regime has committed impeachable crimes. How do we get them to proceed with impeachment?
Statement of Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith
Full Committee Hearing
Oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice
Chairman Smith: Regrettably, the Obama administration has shown a disregard for the Constitution and rule of law in an effort to impose their agenda on the American people.
Under this President, the Justice Department has engaged in a pattern of selective enforcement of the law in order to advance its own partisan agenda.
READ MORE……..
http://judiciary.house.gov/news/Statement%20Oversight%20DOJ%20Hearing.html
Conservatives come up with ideas all the time. Liberals reject them or steal them and the MSM lies about what we're saying - calling us racist or mean or hateful whatever.
Sorry, I'm not impressed with your criticism... You've been reading the MSM too much or, or , or, I give up. I have no idea why or how you could feel the way you do...
We will have to vote him out. If he doesn’t stage a false flag and suspend the elections in Oct.
The Federal Welfare State has been an unmitigated disaster. (See How The Welfare State Works; and note the statement from Thomas Jefferson on the subject of Welfare, in Constitututional Overview, which explains how a local system actually can be effective.
William Flax
your exactly correct, lets watch and see how many so-called MSM political analysts are able to perceive it, or how many of the so-called opposition party speak up,
its becoming more and more obvious,(almost daily really) that the world is entering a time of unparallelled lawlessness,
its not difficult to spot the spirit at work here,
Matthew 24:12
“And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.”
2 Timothy 3:1-4
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,Traitors, heady, highminded, . . “
2 Thessalonians 2:7
“For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.”
BINGO - post 15. It’s a way to massage the unemployment figures just before the election. And, the main stream press will never point out the falsehood.
Larry Kudlow just voiced this unemployment numbers ruse on his radio show.
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