Federal Government Cuts Off Recession Relief Money To States

Despite soaring unemployment and the 19 million Americans currently living in "deep poverty," federal funds for the Temporary Assistance For Needy Families (TANF) program have entirely dried up for the first time since 1996, leaving states with an average of 15 percent less federal funding for the coming year to help an ever-increasing number of needy families.

TANF, the federal program that replaced welfare under the Clinton Administration, provides a lifeline for families and workers who have exhausted all of their unemployment benefits. According to a new report by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, "more homeless families will go without shelter, fewer low-wage workers will receive help with child care expenses, and fewer families involved with the child welfare system will receive preventive services" now that Congress has passed legislation that will end funding for the TANF Contingency Fund in 2011.

Congress also failed to reauthorize an emergency fund for a subsidized job program on September 30 that would have allowed states to provide emergency help to needy families and place low-income people in subsidized jobs.

In fiscal year 2011, every state except Wyoming will experience up to a 20 percent reduction in recession relief funds. The CBPP reports that many states have already drastically reduced their subsidized job programs after being cut off from federal funding, costing tens of thousands of people their jobs. Some states are also considering substantial cuts to programs for low-income families with children, including child care subsidies for working parents and programs that address substance abuse, caring for a disabled child, and other challenges.

"This is not what Congress intended when it reformed the welfare system in 1996," said Liz Schott, Senior Fellow at CBPP. "Helping welfare recipients find work in this economy requires more help from the federal government, not less."

Comments

[Jaidan8]

06:04 PM on 12/22/2010

Perhaps all those wealthly individuals who signed the petition in favor of raising their taxes could give the difference to the food banks and shelters. I am afraid we will see much more homelessness and starvation and the saddest part is the effect on the most innocent victims of this recession...the children. "But there for the grace of god go I..."

[MikeyJaii]

07:15 PM on 12/21/2010

Hey Congress, how about bailing the people out?

[Kassandra]

08:13 PM on 12/19/2010

Well, at least we can rest easy knowing the tax cuts for the rich, with a few short term bones for the unemployed and some education spending, got rammed down our throats.
I'm so glad the rich will have another very merry Christmas at our expense.

First they came for the homeowners
But I did nothing because I wasn't a home owner,
Then they came for the gays
But I said nothing because I wasn't gay.
Then they came for the disabled,
But I did nothing because I wasn't disabled.
Then they came for the children
but I did nothing because I don't think I'm a child.
then they came for the old people
But I said nothing because I am not old.
Then, they came for ME
And there was nobody left to speak for ME......

So, I blamed it all on the liberals

Weimar, here we come

[JuanCarlosysofia]

11:25 AM on 12/23/2010

we liberals don't look left of right,we just toot our one hole kazoo and keep on keepin on.our eternal reply to tsacks is "bafangul".....just one word,..... bafangul.

[Thebes]

01:18 PM on 12/18/2010

Trillions for banksters connected to our rulers.
Billions for Israel at the bequest of their backers.
Millions each for thousands of new and petty tyrannies.
Nothing for the pleabs who pay for it all!

[Hank Warren]

09:38 AM on 12/18/2010

Trillions for bankers, none for Americans, yet another violation of our rights. Add it to the list of gov’t violations of our right:
They violate the 1st Amendment by placing protesters in cages, banning books like “America Deceived II” and censoring the internet.
They violate the 2nd Amendment by confiscating guns.
They violate the 4th and 5th Amendment by molesting airline passengers.
They violate the entire Constitution by starting undeclared wars for foreign countries.
Impeach Obama and sweep out the Congress, except Ron Paul.
(Last link of Banned Book):
http://www.iuniverse.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-000190526

[Kassandra]

08:14 PM on 12/19/2010

and Bernie Sanders

[Eres]

11:36 PM on 12/22/2010

Yeah because Ron Paul really cares about the working poor. Ha! he would cut every last program in existence and allow the children to starve.

[Paul Burton43]

08:13 PM on 12/17/2010

It is a shame. Obama needs conviction. Conviction in the righteousness of serving the people over corporate interest. Short of that we may all become slaves to the unquenchable thirst of corporate profits. God please cover him.

[Thebes]

01:19 PM on 12/18/2010

Yeah, Obama needs to be convicted of what he's done to our nation. So does Bush before him.

[Kassandra]

08:14 PM on 12/19/2010

F+F

[Lorianne]

07:19 PM on 12/17/2010

Time to take in a homeless family.

[tinamaria]

05:56 PM on 12/17/2010

Free Bradley Manning now !!!!!!!!!!

[InspiredByTruth]

05:45 PM on 12/17/2010

Obama didn't even TRY to get this included in his tax bill. This will predictably and inevitably result in bankrupted state governments...who will then be able to negotiate new contracts with unions (effectively breaking them) while gutting almost all local social programs. At this point I'm ready to fully believe he is a Trojan horse (CIA, neocon, whatever) put in office to preserve and grow Bush's police state apparatus while preparing the way for the mythical "competitive wage earner" who will cost (and make) as much as prison labor in China - something that is only possible if people are completely desperate and destitute (there are no social programs, including welfare, foodstamps, and social security for them to fall back on). Time to rise up, people!

[Kassandra]

08:16 PM on 12/19/2010

What took so long?
I'm not snarking you, really.
This wasn't even on the news. I had to find it here.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/16/white-house-antiwar-protesters-arrest_n_797899.html

[wildwildwest]

03:36 AM on 12/21/2010

[...] Washington Police arrested 135 of the protesters, in what is being called the largest mass detention in recent years. Among those arrested were Ray McGovern, a former CIA analyst who used to provide the president's daily briefings, Daniel Ellsberg, who released the government's Pentagon Papers during the Nixon administration, and Chris Hedges, former war correspondent for the New York Times.[...]

I found it (before we talked about it) on Bilerico here:
http://www.bilerico.com/2010/12/straight_shooting.php

[Kassandra]

08:22 PM on 12/19/2010

It's past time we realized our government wants us to starve so they can bring in cheap labor.

[JuanCarlosysofia]

11:34 AM on 12/23/2010

millions of chinese troops coming into the canal zone on container ships.there will be no need for labor.those who survive will work for their miserable life and and litterally, their daily bread.

[agio]

01:29 PM on 12/17/2010

"This is not what Congress intended when it reformed the welfare system in 1996,"

Maybe not. But the rest of us saw it coming.

[Kassandra]

08:18 PM on 12/19/2010

Question authority
( an old hippie bumper sticker)

[JuanCarlosysofia]

11:31 AM on 12/23/2010

ya, and they took care of bussiness with frank zappa for questioning authority.

[berensma]

11:33 AM on 12/17/2010

This brings me right back to 1992 or 93 when Clinton eliminated "welfare as we know it," and I was shocked. One of my first big realizations that the democratic party had irreparably changed.

It's cruel, it's wrong, and it's offensive that money can be found for other things, but not this.

That said, I think we have established pretty well the path our government is going in -- regardless of who is in charge.

Take to the streets, yes, but also if you are making a decent living still, please think about who in your life could use your help -- it is not coming from other places.

[fairywhatnot]

11:01 AM on 12/17/2010

When will the revolution start?

[agio]

01:30 PM on 12/17/2010

So long as we've got our cable TV, our Dancing With the Stars, and our Double Shot Caramel Lattes, never.

[Thebes]

01:23 PM on 12/18/2010

I disagree. I asked my wife years ago and I think she was spot on when she said not while Americans can go to the strip malls and drive fancy new cars bought on credit. So, it looks like the revolution is coming- it seems that its happening already in Greece.

What is revolution? Need it be violent? Can it just be millions of Americans stopping their COMPLIANCE with government edicts from a government they believe is illegitimate? Revolution starts in your head, with you deciding what you will not tolerate, and acting upon your convictions to subvert government rule. No Molotov Cocktails are needed- just millions of Americans saying I SHALL NOT OBEY!

[Kassandra]

08:21 PM on 12/19/2010

When the rightys realize they're getting screwed along with the liberals....no matter WHAT Limbaugh and Beck say and when the left realizes token gestures from a black president are still token gestures and start looking at the man's action and not the color of his skin.
Neat trick TPTB pulled off on US with Obama.

When we stop fighting the people and start fighting the REAL enemy

[SelfCentered]

10:55 AM on 12/17/2010

As long as the Fed is printing the free money to lend to the big banks for free, everything is as it should be.

Oops, I forgot. We have to insure the bets of the financial industry with our tax dollars. Can't let things interfere with the bonuses.

I oversimplified it. They overcomplicated it.

[Needawinner]

10:24 AM on 12/17/2010

The solution is easy---lets start working on the next tax cut bill---and make sure we give the wealthy more cuts, thats what will help, more cuts, cuts, cuts

[proudtohaveserved]

11:29 AM on 12/17/2010

One of my son's in law say the death of the poor is one way GOD has to make sure the right people get to live. HE IS NOT A DEMOCRAT

[MiddleMolly]

11:34 AM on 12/17/2010

I think that some people really believe that. How do you even respond to that kind of comment?

[agio]

01:31 PM on 12/17/2010

Seem to recall a certain penniless Jewish carpenter who once said, "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Wonder if your Republican son-in-law has heard of him.

[FeedTheUS]

10:09 AM on 12/17/2010

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. I'm disgusted with broken Washington, both Houses filled with millionaires and one party that has eclipsed all records of filibusters/blocks. The news of the TANF, after watching 2Mil-5Million 99ers, (longest unemployed), get SHUT OUT of this new bill/"deal", and 4 million losing UI benefits because of loopholes, has left me depressed and frustrated that America has lost it's moral compass.

Bloomberg reported last month that charity giving by wealthy was down 35% last year. We have 54 Million, (17.2Mil of them children), OVERWHELMING USA food banks with those pantries reporting only 20-30% of normal donations of turkeys at Thanksgiving. We have 3.5 million homeless, 43.4 million in poverty, record foreclosures & double that on the docket over the next year, countless millions that have moved in with parents & children, escalating child & domestic abuse, a dramatic increase in suicides since 2008, libraries closing when the unemployed need computers & resources the most, 50 million without health insurance, 45,000 who died from lack of insurance/care last year and the government continues to endorse/fund the banksters that crushed us in this ditch?

Where is the humanity?

The time has come to take to the streets. I'm locating sponsors now, for a video documentary tour of food banks, schools, shelters, vet & senior centers so I can do what the news media has FAILED to do, get D.C. seeing the faces of hunger and "fruits" of their labor.

[BETGR627]

10:15 AM on 12/17/2010

I know how you feel! I feel angry and depressed and frustrated at how things are going and the selfishness of one party in order to make Obama look bad. They should all know how it feels to be hungry, cold, scared, sick with no money before they cut off any funds but that won't happen.

Fanned (#1)!

[FeedTheUS]

11:03 AM on 12/17/2010

Thanks. I used to think I wouldn't wish what I see and experience through the tours I've done thus far, on ANYBODY, but today, I wish it on all the GOP blockers, banksters & wealthy who are driving America into the ground with their greed and selfishness. I live in dread of what's about to happen when the GOP and John, I golf 119 times a year but screw you America, Boehner. Washington is so out of touch with what's going on down here on the ground. It's time for a 'People's Party' and a reality shakedown of these immoral elected leaders.

Blessings to you and wishing you a Happy Holidays for you and yours. :^)

[SelfCentered]

10:57 AM on 12/17/2010

Link to something you're talking about...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxeHa26t1ew

[FeedTheUS]

11:29 AM on 12/17/2010

Thank you for that amazing video! I've posted reports of this but didn't know there was a video to go with it!

I don't know if you are familiar with Mark Horvath, a regular contributor to Huffington Post, but he is homeless, traveling the U.S. and Canada, documenting homeless as well as great ideas that are working to solve homelessness issues. Mark partnered with YouTube and they've created a "dedicated" channel & blog to homeless so that homeless can upload their videos and stories, as well as his documentaries. You can find them at InvisiblePeople.tv. Mark is also effectively teaching homeless to use social media and you can find thousands of them in Twitter. Mark's website: http://hardlynormal.com/blog/

You can also find him on Twitter @HardlyNormal and @WeAreVisible.

Thanks again. (I actually cried as I watched the American flag waving over the veteran's tent, grieving the country we have become. Who'da thunk?)

Blessings to you and yours and Happy Holidays. :^)