Obama Administration Guts Welfare Reform

Posted by in Blog, News, Politics on July 13, 2012 9:26 am / 1 comment

The Obama Administration has taken a drastic step to end parts of the welfare reform of 1996. Via the Washington Times:

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced an attempt to override the work requirements that were a key accomplishment of Republicans’ welfare reform in 1996.

An “information memorandum” sent to states this afternoon stated that HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was excercising her waiver authority under the Social Security Act, specifically the requirement that “parents and caretakers receving assistance under the [Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)] program engage in work activities.”

Via Heritage:

Today, the Obama Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released an official policy directive rewriting the welfare reform law of 1996. The new policy guts the federal work requirements that were the foundation of the reform law. The Obama directive bludgeons the letter and intent of the actual reform legislation.

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.

[...]

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.

The new welfare dictate issued by the Obama Administration clearly guts the law. 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.

More over at Heritage’s website here.

 
 

1 Comments

  1. Carol English says:
    July 13, 2012 at 10:42 am

    I don’t know which Welfare reform you are referring to but, Because I do not have a deprived dependent child in the home and I am not pregnant or blind or over 65 years of age I have been denied Ahcccs health coverage. Which I have had for the past few years off and on, but because I missed the renewal date I had to reapply and because of Obama’s new requirements ( the ones mentioned above) I am no longer eligible for Ahcccs health coverage.
    I am 51 yrs old divorced woman, my daughter is 24 and living her own life now. I have worked hard for 35 years and because I have Pad (pulmonary artery disease) COPD, emphysema,and I suffer from PTSD (post Traumatic stress disorder) Bipolar, depression and I am unemployed because of these health issues and the economy. The Pad has caused veins in my legs to stop functioning and will result in dead tissue end results left un-treated will result in amputation of my leg, not to mention I will no longer be able to get the breathing treatments or inhalers and medications prescribe to me by my doctor who I will no longer be able to see because I have no health insurance.
    So I ask you which category do I fall under. I have worked hard, payed my taxes, and obeyed the law and I am not a new dependent majority. So please someone feel free to tell me where I fit in to this welfare reform. I have been denied Ahcccs, denied disability and SSI twice. But hey, once I loose my leg then I will qualify for something. So what exactly did I work hard for 35 years paying my taxes and raising a child to become a productive citizen of society, do for me?

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