Republicans in two Congressional committees voted last week to press forward with legislation that would deny states the flexibility they requested to help more welfare recipients get jobs.
That's right.
Not only that, Rep. Paul Ryan, the GOP vice presidential candidate, said last week he is eager to return to Washington this week for a floor vote on the Republican measure prohibiting the Obama administration from, as the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) described it:
"encouraging states to consider new, more effective ways to meet the goals of TANF (welfare), particularly helping parents successfully prepare for, find and retain employment."
That's right.
Republicans don't want the Obama administration to help states get welfare recipients off the dole and into jobs. In July, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney launched an attack on the administration's offer to meet a demand from states for more flexibility so states could move more people to work instead of pushing more paper around. Now, Republicans in Congress are taking up the cause of thwarting Obama's plan to grant states' request for flexibility. Historically, Republicans supported moving welfare recipients off the federal rolls and onto private pay rolls. But they're not going to let Obama get credit for accomplishing that.
This dispute began with an attempt by the Obama administration to reduce regulatory burdens. Here's what President Obama wrote Feb. 28, 2011 in the Administrative Flexibility memo:
"I am instructing agencies to work closely with state, local, and tribal governments to identify administrative, regulatory, and legislative barriers in federally funded programs that currently prevent states, localities, and tribes, from efficiently using tax dollars to achieve the best results for their constituents."
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) took the directive seriously and asked states for suggestions. Some state officials complained about burdensome welfare reform paperwork requirements and asked if HHS would provide flexibility. Among them were Utah and Nevada, both of which have Republican governors. Utah also has a Republican supermajority in its legislature.
HHS responded with a memo to states issued on July 12. It offers states a chance to achieve flexibility through waiver of some welfare rules if states conduct HHS-approved pilot programs that move additional welfare recipients to work in measureable ways.
The memo states at least 10 times that the goal is increased employment. For example, there's this:
"HHS will only consider approving waivers relating to the work participation requirements that make changes intended to lead to more effective means of meeting the work goals of TANF (welfare).
"Moreover, HHS is committed to ensuring that any demonstration projects approved under this authority will be focused on improving employment outcomes and contributing to the evidence base for effective programs; therefore, terms and conditions will require a federally-approved evaluation plan designed to build our knowledge base."
In a letter that accompanied the memo, HHS repeats incessantly that all proposals must fulfill the goal of increased employment. Of the 21 sentences, at least 10 specify that less welfare and more work is mandated by the law, is important and will be required for waiver. For example, there's this:
"The (HHS) Secretary is only interested in approving waivers if the state can explain in a compelling fashion why the proposed approach may be a more efficient or effective means to promote employment entry, retention, advancement, or access to jobs that offer opportunities for earnings and advancement that will allow participants to avoid dependence on government benefits."
Despite all that, Mitt Romney began condemning the waiver offer immediately after it was issued. Congressional Republicans hope this week to bludgeon it to death with legislation forbidding HHS from providing the flexibility requested by governors, including Republicans Gary Herbert of Utah and Brian Sandoval of Nevada. Herbert's state department of HHS wrote the federal HHS in 2011 seeking flexibility:
"Nevada is very interested in working with your staff to explore program waivers..."
Like welfare-to-work, Republicans have long supported "flexibility" for states in implementing federal mandates. For example, in 2005 every Republican governor in the nation - 29 of them - wrote Congress to support a bill that would have allowed waivers to welfare reform law requirements. The governors told Congress they wanted "flexibility to manage their TANF (welfare) programs." The letter said:
"Increased waiver authority, allowable work activities, availability of partial work credit and the ability to coordinate state programs are all important aspects of moving recipients from welfare to work."
Mitt Romney signed that letter. He was among the 29 governors seeking flexibility through waivers to manage welfare.
That's right. The same Mitt Romney who now is denouncing the Obama administration's effort to provide flexibility.
Now, Romney despises flexibility. Now, he hates waivers. Now, he's demanding an end to the effort by HHS to give states the ability to experiment with pilot programs to increase the employment of welfare recipients.
It's yet another Romney flip-flop, another Romney Etch-A-Sketch moment. Said it once, erase it now. Romney figures GOP inconsistency doesn't matter as long as it hurts President Obama somehow.
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And let us emphasize that the very people who would benefit from the money that is being withheld from improvement of education are the ones who will be needed in our increasingly technological society. How does one calculate the profit that will be lost by having positions that cannot be filled because of inadequate expenditures for skills training?
multiculturalism is dumbing everything down so now were failing on the global level.
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Yes, but it's important to look closer. It's not that the Republicans don't want to get welfare recipients off the dole. It's that they don't want the government helping welfare recipients to get off the dole.
Don't you see the difference? The Republicans want welfare recipients to go out there and with their own two hands pull themselves up... or die.
Even if we don't agree, that IS a defensible position. Endless help doesn't help. You have to build it YOURSELF, not with the government's help.
And here some might protest. But... but... but the wealthy get plenty of government help. That's true, but that's what government is for. The poor are simply a drag on society, and the only reason they're not marching us into ovens is that it's the 21st century and that sort of thing is frowned upon.
Until we acknowledge that ideology and decide whether to oppose or support it, we will continue dancing around the legal details, which are just a cover for the real agenda.
(And now the GOP Pep Rally Song)
I don’t know what they have to say, It makes no difference anyway -- Whatever it is, I’m against it!
No matter what it is or who commenced it, I’m against it.
Your proposition may be good but let’s have one thing understood -- Whatever it is, I’m against it!
And even when you’ve changed it or condensed it, I’m against it. I’m opposed to it -- On general principles I’m opposed to it!
F&F mb533
Republicans are all for forcing raped women who become pregnant to take the pregnancy to term. But when the infant is born, the Republicans abandon the child. No health care for poor babies! No welfare for poor babies! Let 'em die! That's the GOP credo.
It is my belief that a dollar of deficit spending does more damage to job creation than a dollar of taxes. That is because taxes (particularly those targeting the middle or lower income groups) have their greatest impact on spending, while deficits more directly impact savings and investment. Contrary to the beliefs held by many professional economists spending does not make an economy grow. Savings and investment are far more determinative. Any program that diverts capital into consumption and away from savings and investment will diminish future economic growth and job creation.
Define “Work”…
In the past, state bureaucrats have attempted to define activities such as hula dancing, attending Weight Watchers, and bed rest as “work.” These dodges were blocked by the federal work standards. Now that the Obama Administration has abolished those standards, we can expect “work” in the TANF program to mean anything but work.