Free Republic

An ailing economy is threatening the success of welfare reforms that in the past decade moved millions of people off the public dole and into jobs.Caseloads are shooting up in Sacramento County and across the state as the economy slumps and unemployment rises. At the same time, the welfare system is facing unprecedented budget cuts from the state and a possible financial penalty from the federal government.The effect is fewer services for people who need them more than ever, administrators told The Bee. "I have a lot of concern right now," said Bruce Wagstaff, director of the Department of Human...

But Republican senators are taking them seriously as they hold up passage of the budget, listing the sanctions as their largest single spending cut to bring the budget into balance. Picking up Schwarzenegger's earlier rationales, Republican legislators contend that the sanctions are needed to bring California into line with federal welfare reform rules on work. "The only people thrown off welfare ... will be felons, illegal aliens and persons who don't comply with such draconian rules as trying to find a job," Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Atwater, wrote in an op-ed piece circulated to California newspapers. Whacking welfare rolls would be...

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will propose a major rollback of the state's welfare system this week, including a cutoff of aid to tens of thousands of children whose parents do not meet minimum work requirements or are in the country illegally, administration officials said Sunday. The proposed $465-million reduction in California's welfare budget came two days after the governor promised that his second term would feature "post-partisan" cooperation. It was met immediately with resistance from Democrats, who expressed bewilderment that the governor would attempt to cut welfare aid to children in the same week his administration is expected to...

<p>A poll says Californians don't want to refinance past debts from 2003 when they vote March 2. That's bad, because the $12 billion bond the Legislature and former Gov. Gray Davis already approved to cover their gross overspending last year is legally dubious, necessitating that voters approve the governor's March refinancing and replacement bond.</p>

<p>In a little-noticed provision of his initial budget proposal, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is asking the Legislature to deny welfare recipients a cost-of-living increase that would have been triggered by his rolling back of the state car tax.</p> <p>The proposal came to light Wednesday as lawmakers started asking questions about the budget package Schwarzenegger unveiled the day before and held a strained first meeting with the governor's finance director.</p>