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xchrom

(108,903 posts)
Fri Apr 13, 2012, 11:13 AM Apr 2012

This Week in Poverty: Will Pennsylvania Rip Another Hole in the Safety Net?

http://www.thenation.com/blog/167381/week-poverty-will-pennsylvania-rip-another-hole-safety-net

If you’ve never heard of state-funded General Assistance (GA) programs, you’re hardly alone. A “safety net of last resort” for very poor people—often childless adults—who don’t qualify for other forms of public assistance, there aren’t too many of them still in existence. Not too long ago most states offered them but in recent decades they have been eliminated or severely restricted. Now, only thirty states maintain GA programs and the benefit level for most falls below one-quarter of the poverty line, or less than $2,750 per year.

In a recent report for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), Liz Schott and Clare Cho call this trend “especially troubling” since “a growing number of jobless and elderly” are exhausting their unemployment benefits and continue to be unable to find work.

“Poor, childless adults are becoming even more vulnerable to severe hardship than in the past and are doing so in greater numbers,” write the authors.

One state that still maintains a GA program is Pennsylvania where 68,000 people—or just about 1 of every 200 residents—receive about $205 per month (five counties offer a little more, twenty-eight counties a little less). But when Republican Governor Tom Corbett released his budget in February he proposed eliminating the program entirely as of July 1. A final budget must be passed and signed by that date, and with Republican majorities in the House and Senate, legal aid lawyer Michael Froehlich of Community Legal Services in Philadelphia says, “It’s not looking good.”
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This Week in Poverty: Will Pennsylvania Rip Another Hole in the Safety Net? (Original Post) xchrom Apr 2012 OP
How awful. If you haven't read the link....DO SO! snappyturtle Apr 2012 #1
lol -- that's cool. nt xchrom Apr 2012 #2
Kick! I hope more Duers read this important OP! nt snappyturtle Apr 2012 #3

snappyturtle

(14,656 posts)
1. How awful. If you haven't read the link....DO SO!
Fri Apr 13, 2012, 11:38 AM
Apr 2012

So much to look at. Just reading through it briefly left me
better informed of the scope of poverty in the country.
Bookmarked to digest more later.

Thanks xchrom for your post. K&R


edit: My 'directive' wasn't aimed at you, xchrom!

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