Rep. Paul Ryan (Jason Reed/Reuters)
If you missed it this weekend, it's worth taking a bit of time to read The New York Times' report on how the safety net fell out from under millions during this recession, and how that exposes the problems of the two-decades old "welfare reform."
Despite the worst economy in decades, the cash welfare rolls have barely budged.
Faced with flat federal financing and rising need, Arizona is one of 16 states that have cut their welfare caseloads further since the start of the recession — in its case, by half. Even as it turned away the needy, Arizona spent most of its federal welfare dollars on other programs, using permissive rules to plug state budget gaps.
The poor people who were dropped from cash assistance here, mostly single mothers, talk with surprising openness about the desperate, and sometimes illegal, ways they make ends meet. They have sold food stamps, sold blood, skipped meals, shoplifted, doubled up with friends, scavenged trash bins for bottles and cans and returned to relationships with violent partners — all with children in tow.
Rep. Paul Ryan, the financial "wizard" of the Republican party and the
"Gullible Center's" icon, says that the welfare reform that led to this is “an unprecedented success.” He also
says:
"We propose welfare reform round 2," Ryan said, apparently referring to the Welfare Reform Act proposed last year by the conservative Republican Study Committee.
"Let's take those principles of welfare reform that were extremely successful in getting people out of lives of dependency and back on their feet," Ryan said. His plan would turn the funding for federal programs like food stamps and housing assistance into block grants -- a fixed yearly allotment granting states greater spending flexibility. States would then set work requirements and time limits for the benefits.
"This is a path that we believe reignites and renews the American idea," Ryan said. "It reclaims the opportunity society with a safety net, which we do believe must exist for people who cannot help themselves, for people who are down on their luck, so they can get back on their feet."
"But we don't want to turn the safety net into a hammock that lulls able-bodied people to lives of dependency and complacency, that drains them of their will and their incentive to make the most of their lives," Ryan added.
Ryan must not know any able-bodied unemployed people. Here's that
success:
TANF's record over the last 15 years shows, however, that its role as a safety net has declined sharply over time. (See Figure 1). In 1996, for every 100 families with children living in poverty, TANF provided cash aid to 68 families. By 2010, it provided cash assistance to only 27 such families for every 100 in poverty.
That's not going to sway a sociopath like Ryan, who obviously thinks having just a quarter of the neediest receiving assistance is far too many, judging by his policy proposals. If this isn't "social Darwinism," one would be hard pressed to find a better example. What Harold Pollack
says: It's appalling.