Cuts in US welfare programs hit hundreds of thousands of poor families

[Hannah Bell]

US states are implementing drastic cuts to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, creating further hardships for 700,000 families that include 1.3 million children. The slashing of funding for TANF, the welfare program financed by block grants to states from the federal government, is part of an overall attack on all social programs in the US.

The impact and scale of the cuts are documented in a May 19 report issued by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), a liberal policy group. CBPP report lists three areas of cuts being made by the states:

* Monthly cash assistance benefits have been cut in several states.
* Time limits for receiving TANF benefits have been shortened.
* Working families with low incomes face cuts in TANF-funded supplements in several ways. Michigan’s Earned Income Tax Credit (partially funded by TANF) is being slashed by two-thirds, for example... This is part of a state budget that sharply cut taxes for corporations and the wealthy. In other states, families are having their supplemental TANF benefits cut or eliminated.

These cuts are being carried out by both Democratic and Republican governors. Among the states citied by the CBPP that are cutting benefits are: Washington, under a Democratic governor, where benefits have been reduced by 15 percent, or $84 per month for a family of three; South Carolina under a Republican, by 20 percent; and 8 percent in California, under a Democrat...

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/may2011/tanf-m30.shtml


PS: as the article goes on to note, the programmatic changes that have made TANF cuttable are a product of Clinton's "welfare reform" which turned need-based afdc into time-limited/block-granted TANF.

It's been funded at 1996 levels for its entire existence: "At only 72 percent of their original value in inflation-adjusted dollars, state and federal TANF funds can no longer fund the same level of services and support as they did 15 years ago.”

The government estimates that 1 in 4 american children will soon be growing up in poverty.

[CreekDog]

1. this is how our country "saves" money

we can't make/drop fewer bombs.

no, no, have to give less to children.

[Hannah Bell]

2. poverty on the same level as it was when the "war on poverty" began.

read an article about it which said that, nevertheless, poor people in the 60s -- didn't have cell phones!

yay! poor people have cell phones so they're not really poor!!!!

because having a cell phone makes not having a job or home so much better!

[ejpoeta]

3. you want to see people go apeshit, show a commercial that for free phone for poor people.

why do poor people need cell phones!!! I say, imagine your car breaks down on the side of the road. And I have had that happen and a poor person who can't afford to buy a new car is more likely to have that happen. There are so many different scenarios. They picture the poor person with a smartphone with a data package for free. When in reality it's a flip phone with may 200 minutes a month.

People are ridiculous. They don't need cable either. Apparently while they are sitting at home with no cell phone and their old car that gets 10 miles to the gallon because they can't afford anything else, they don't deserve anything at all.

All I can say is that I hope none of these people ever have to be poor. Part of me wishes they would so they can know what it's like. And the odds of them doing that are good, sadly. Because they aren't rich. But I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I've known people who abused the system, mind you. Of all the people I've known who have had assistance, there were only a couple who abused it. I wouldn't really say abused because what they did was allowed, but it did make me mad. I would say they took advantage. But, I wouldn't want to hurt everyone else for the ones that took advantage.

[eilen]

5. They may have had home phones

Which they do not today.

[Hannah Bell]

6. but cell phones are *better*! new! modern! flashy! so they are not poor.

the other one is: poor people in the us are richer than africans living in the bush.

yay! unfortunately, we have laws against shooting small game, peeing in the street, and building our own houses from trees and mud in our cities.

[indepat]

10. These are but a few of the joys living in a nation wherein an extreme RW agenda has been implemented

:shrug: :patriot:

[xchrom]

4. Recommend

[kickysnana]

7. More kids left alone, in the car or with an abusive caregiver.

More people fired because of health issues, child health or care issues or transportation problems.

More health problems as already strapped younger families take on sick and vulnerable elders because that safety net has been cut.

But CEOs get their tax cuts, we send millions AID to Pakistan, our ally, tax breaks for big oil and million dollar consultants while teachers hit the bricks.

America is stuck on stupid.

[barbtries]

8. for a nation as rich as ours

it's an absolute travesty. i don't know this place any more. :cry:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

9. this is really ugly stuff. how americans continue to vote republicans

who all but assure us at attack on the poor, i will never understand

[hfojvt]

13. unfortunately Democrats do not seem to be offering much of an alternative

You don't see Obama making news with this. You don't see a Democratic Senator or a Democratic Governor telling people how horrible this is. Instead, Obama offers plans for tax cuts for rich people and many Democrats jumped right on board, and Democratic Governors in New York and Illinois offer more tax breaks for rich people, and Democratic Governors in Missouri and Kansas won't even consider tax increases. No, the budget needs to be balanced by cuts. Cuts even to education, to say nothing of social programs.

[bobthedrummer]

11. That's what "life unworthy of life" deserves-and it's going to get more extreme in awhile.

Seriously.

[gratuitous]

12. But lower taxes for Charlie Sheen and subsidies for Big Oil are still safe, right?

In that case, there's no problem here and things are working as they should.