Obama warned over ‘welfare spendathon’

[GG]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5733499.ece

The new administration's economic stimulus plan may undo reforms that cut the dole queues, critics say

RONALD REAGAN started it, Bill Clinton finished it and last week Barack Obama was accused of engineering its destruction. One of the few undisputed triumphs of American government of the past 20 years – the sweeping welfare reform programme that sent millions of dole claimants back to work – has been plunged into jeopardy by billions of dollars in state handouts included in the president's controversial economic stimulus package.

As Obama celebrated Valentine's Day yesterday with a return to his Chicago home for a private weekend with family and friends, his success in piloting a $785 billion (£546 billion) stimulus package through Congress was being overshadowed by warnings that an unprecedented increase in welfare spending would undermine two decades of bipartisan attempts to reduce dependency on government handouts.

Robert Rector, a prominent welfare researcher who was one of the architects of Clinton's 1996 reform bill, warned last week that Obama's stimulus plan was a "welfare spendathon" that would amount to the largest one-year increase in government handouts in American history.

Douglas Besharov, author of a big study on welfare reform, said the stimulus bill passed by Congress and the Senate in separate votes on Friday would "unravel" most of the 1996 reforms that led to a 65% reduction in welfare caseloads and prompted the British and several other governments to consider similar measures.

Though some researchers have questioned the true impact of Clinton's "workfare" reforms, they were wildly popular with millions of US taxpayers tired of subsidising what many saw as a generation of slackers

[joiei]

quote:Originally posted by unreliablesource

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5733499.ece



Douglas Besharov, author of a big study on welfare reform, said the stimulus bill passed by Congress and the Senate in separate votes on Friday

When was the Senate removed from the Congress of the United States?  I was understanding that the Congress was a bicameral body consisting of the Senate AND the House of Representatives.  Or have things changed since I took Civics.

[GG]

quote:Originally posted by joiei

quote:Originally posted by unreliablesource

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5733499.ece



Douglas Besharov, author of a big study on welfare reform, said the stimulus bill passed by Congress and the Senate in separate votes on Friday

When was the Senate removed from the Congress of the United States?  I was understanding that the Congress was a bicameral body consisting of the Senate AND the House of Representatives.  Or have things changed since I took Civics.

Ever since Nancy Poloci and Harry Reid took charge of Congress.   He now has a blank check to do whatever he wants.   He only has 3 Senate Republicans to buy off.

[we vs us]

It will be interesting to see how Americans' perception of welfare changes as this goes on.  Increasingly, the people who are taking advantage of government programs look less and less like Welfare Queens, and more and more like your next door neighbors, your family, and possibly even you.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by we vs us

It will be interesting to see how Americans' perception of welfare changes as this goes on.  Increasingly, the people who are taking advantage of government programs look less and less like Welfare Queens, and more and more like your next door neighbors, your family, and possibly even you.

I dunno, I haven't seen any carrots w/ sunglasses on my block.

[Cats Cats Cats]

Actually, I would think that bailing out the banks was the first of the largest welfare spenadathon.  This is just adding to it.