PoliticalChic
Diamond Member
With respect to laws passed by Congress, and signed by the President...can another President decide, unilaterally, to change the law?
Or is that constitutional?
1. "Determined to destroy Bill Clintons signature achievement, President Obamas administration has opened a loophole in the 1996 welfare reform legislation big enough to make the law ineffective. Its work requirement the central feature of the legislation has been diluted beyond recognition by the bureaucrats at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
2. ...HHS issued regulations that modified gutted the work requirement. Its new regulations allow the states to substitute education programs for work to get welfare benefits. The regs say that vocational educational training or job search/readiness programs count as well in meeting the basic condition that recipients work in order to receive welfare...
3. The Congress specifically prohibited the use of education or training to fulfill the requirement.
4. When it passed welfare reform, Congress expressly limited the authority of the secretary of HHS to waive the work requirement.
a. Section 415(a)(2)(B) of the welfare reform act, now codified at 42 U.S.C. § 615(a)(2)(B), expressly states that a waiver granted under section 1315 of this title [the one that HHS now claims it is acting under] or otherwise which relates to the provision of assistance under a State program funded under this part (as in effect on Sept. 30, 1996) shall not affect the applicability of section 607 of this title [which applies the work requirements] to the State.
b. In short, whatever else might be said of the scope of the waiver authority, the Secretary has no lawful authority to waive the work requirements of section 607...
5. ...then-Senate Republican Majority Leader Trent Lott (Miss.) was particularly suspicious that future HHS secretaries might dilute the work requirement, just as the administration has done. He worked overtime with counsel to make sure that education and training would not be used to substitute for the work provision.
6. ...the action is a blatant violation of the law, and Mitt Romney has attacked it, saying the linkage of work and welfare is essential to prevent welfare from becoming a way of life.
7. ... 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,...
8. ...welfare reform has been one of the most successful programs enacted in recent decades. Under its provisions, the welfare population has been cut in half while child poverty until the current recession dropped by one-third.
9. ...Obamas strategy of expanding his political base by widening the dependency on government handouts.
10. We are rapidly becoming a nation that doesnt work, doesnt pay income taxes and gets entitlement checks."
Obama kills welfare reform - The Hill - covering Congress, Politics, Political Campaigns and Capitol Hill | TheHill.com
"On May 22, 1782, one of Washingtons officers, ...proposed that Washington become King of the United States.
Washington wrote that he could not think of anything in his own conduct that would suggest that he would consider being king. You could not have found a person to whom your schemes are more disagreeable.
Rediscovering George Washington . Classroom: George Washington and the Rule of Law | PBS
Barack Obama.....you're no George Washington.
Or is that constitutional?
1. "Determined to destroy Bill Clintons signature achievement, President Obamas administration has opened a loophole in the 1996 welfare reform legislation big enough to make the law ineffective. Its work requirement the central feature of the legislation has been diluted beyond recognition by the bureaucrats at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
2. ...HHS issued regulations that modified gutted the work requirement. Its new regulations allow the states to substitute education programs for work to get welfare benefits. The regs say that vocational educational training or job search/readiness programs count as well in meeting the basic condition that recipients work in order to receive welfare...
3. The Congress specifically prohibited the use of education or training to fulfill the requirement.
4. When it passed welfare reform, Congress expressly limited the authority of the secretary of HHS to waive the work requirement.
a. Section 415(a)(2)(B) of the welfare reform act, now codified at 42 U.S.C. § 615(a)(2)(B), expressly states that a waiver granted under section 1315 of this title [the one that HHS now claims it is acting under] or otherwise which relates to the provision of assistance under a State program funded under this part (as in effect on Sept. 30, 1996) shall not affect the applicability of section 607 of this title [which applies the work requirements] to the State.
b. In short, whatever else might be said of the scope of the waiver authority, the Secretary has no lawful authority to waive the work requirements of section 607...
5. ...then-Senate Republican Majority Leader Trent Lott (Miss.) was particularly suspicious that future HHS secretaries might dilute the work requirement, just as the administration has done. He worked overtime with counsel to make sure that education and training would not be used to substitute for the work provision.
6. ...the action is a blatant violation of the law, and Mitt Romney has attacked it, saying the linkage of work and welfare is essential to prevent welfare from becoming a way of life.
7. ... 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,...
8. ...welfare reform has been one of the most successful programs enacted in recent decades. Under its provisions, the welfare population has been cut in half while child poverty until the current recession dropped by one-third.
9. ...Obamas strategy of expanding his political base by widening the dependency on government handouts.
10. We are rapidly becoming a nation that doesnt work, doesnt pay income taxes and gets entitlement checks."
Obama kills welfare reform - The Hill - covering Congress, Politics, Political Campaigns and Capitol Hill | TheHill.com
"On May 22, 1782, one of Washingtons officers, ...proposed that Washington become King of the United States.
Washington wrote that he could not think of anything in his own conduct that would suggest that he would consider being king. You could not have found a person to whom your schemes are more disagreeable.
Rediscovering George Washington . Classroom: George Washington and the Rule of Law | PBS
Barack Obama.....you're no George Washington.