Romney Hits Obama Move Gutting Welfare Reform

[Quantum Windbag]

Odd response from a guy who:

1) Routinely says he believes in state flexibility and state solutions, forged in the laboratories of democracy. Which is exactly the approach ACF is taking here ("...many jurisdictions expressed a strong interest in greater flexibility in TANF and indicated that greater flexibility could be used by states to improve program effectiveness. . . States offered a range of suggestions for ways in which expanded flexibility could lead to more effective employment outcomes for families."), and

2) Claims one of his first actions in office would be to issue a slew of waivers that have no legal basis (the Section 1115 waiver authority ACF is citing actually exists).

But it's Romney, so expecting coherence is asking a bit much.

Odd response from a guy who claims that Obamacare allows states to have flexibility to set up exchanges.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

does not grant authority to override work and other major requirements in the other sections of the TANF law (sections that were deliberately not listed under the section 1115 waiver authority):

Since when can the HHS via the president amend an existing law?

I think it started on 20 Jan 2009.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Romney Hits Obama Move Gutting Welfare Reform

While the Obama campaign goes all out attacking Mitt Romney’s business history, the Romney campaign is looking carefully at a new Obama administration policy that could become a significant part of Romney’s case against the president

That reform, originally vetoed but later signed into law by President Bill Clinton, is widely viewed as the most successful policy initiative in a generation.

Friday morning, with Obama’s action still largely unreported, Romney released a statement calling Obama’s move “completely misdirected.”

“President Obama now wants to strip the established work requirements from welfare,” Romney said. “The success of bipartisan welfare reform, passed under President Clinton, has rested on the obligation of work. The president’s action is completely misdirected. Work is a dignified endeavor, and the linkage of work and welfare is essential to prevent welfare from becoming a way of life.”

Romney hits Obama move gutting welfare reform | WashingtonExaminer.com

Apparently this is about more conservative lies, ignorance, and partisan stupidity:

States will not be able to escape the work requirements of the landmark 1996 federal welfare reform law, the administration said, but they may get federal approval to try to accomplish the same goals by using different methods than those spelled out in the legislation.

The administration said the waiver program is a response to concerns from state officials - Republicans as well as Democrats - that the work requirements in the law are too rigid and create bureaucratic hurdles to actually placing welfare recipients in jobs. Officials say the program does not violate the underlying law because of a provision that allows waivers of state plans.

In its memo to the states, the administration said no waivers will be allowed that could reduce access to employment, nor will they permit exceptions to time limits on welfare assistance. Waivers can be revoked if the experiments don't work out. Still, a state can seek a waiver to cover its entire welfare population.

Administration proposes welfare-to-work waivers | Seattle Times Newspaper

The irony of this is that the Welfare Reform Act, as passed by a republican Congress, was designed to give states and local Regional Workforce Boards (RWB) the flexibility to accommodate local needs.

For example, some RWBs don’t allow job search as a countable activity per their states’ guidelines. With a waiver job search might now be allowed as a countable activity in place of community service, as the former might be a more productive activity – but those receiving TANF benefits must remain engaged to be eligible.

Now we have the ridiculous specter of conservatives opposing a policy that might help welfare recipients become employed and self-sufficient quicker in a partisan effort to attack Obama. Amazing.

Clearly the right has become collectively insane as a consequence of its irrational hatred of the president.

The real irony is you are full of shit. The law specifically precluded giving states any flexibility despite the rhetoric of the politicians.

 

[Lakhota]

WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney and a slew of other leading Republicans on Friday slammed the Obama administration's decision to relax some welfare requirements, despite the fact that Republican-led states sought the policy change.

More: Mitt Romney, Other Top Republicans Slam Welfare Change That Republicans Sought

 

[Care4all]

WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney and a slew of other leading Republicans on Friday slammed the Obama administration's decision to relax some welfare requirements, despite the fact that Republican-led states sought the policy change.

More: Mitt Romney, Other Top Republicans Slam Welfare Change That Republicans Sought

boy, the washington repubs sure are out of sinc with the republican governors?

 

[hortysir]

what EXACTLY was done and for how long etc....does anyone have the facts on this? not general terms like gutted. but precisely, what was done.

The directive — which some Romney aides found stunning — allows the Department of Health and Human Services to waive the work requirement at the heart of welfare reform.


Barack Obama himself pledged to do all he could to undo it. Now, he has.

 

[hortysir]

WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney and a slew of other leading Republicans on Friday slammed the Obama administration's decision to relax some welfare requirements, despite the fact that Republican-led states sought the policy change.

More: Mitt Romney, Other Top Republicans Slam Welfare Change That Republicans Sought

Reading comprehension really isn't your strong suit, is it?

While Utah supports a work search requirement, we will only consider waiver authority based on those processes that actually improve employment outcomes

Utah Administrative Flexibility Letter

 

[francoHFW]

Diagram for dupes: NO GUTTING, not even considered. JFC. You are duped AGAIN.

 

[hortysir]

Diagram for dupes: NO GUTTING, not even considered. JFC. You are duped AGAIN.

As usual, no facts, no substance.

Just mumbling jibberish

 

[ScienceRocks]

Diagram for dupes: NO GUTTING, not even considered. JFC. You are duped AGAIN.

Please look at the constitution then look at Obama's record. Do as you want us to do. Honestly, it starts with one person doing the right thing. Fighting for the truth!

 

[francoHFW]

AGAIN:

Could the Pub propaganda machine lie, spin, and exagerate the the "Sky is falling" BS any more?As usual, after 10 google pages of of BS Pub sites blaring "Obama guts welfare work requirement", you finally find some reality.It's a waiver that states could ask for (they won't) for experiments they could try, AND NEVER MENTIONS WORK REQUIREMENTS.Pubs are totally FOS, so the dupes are too. Change the channel.

How bout ONE real jobs bill, "jobs, jobs, jobs" a-holes?

"Is there any information out there that refutes the apocalyptic Heritage take on HHS's new TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) waiver? Has the HHS "gutted" welfare reform?

It's at least cracked open the door for the people who might gut it. Robert Rector and Kiki Bradley write that section 1115 of Social Security law gives HHS limited waiver authority. "The work provisions of the TANF program are contained in section 407 (entitled, appropriately, 'mandatory work requirements')," they write. "Critically, this section, as well as most other TANF requirements, are deliberately not listed in section 1115; they are not waiveable

"Section 115 allows waivers for any "experimental, pilot, or demonstration project which, in the judgment of the Secretary, is likely to assist in promoting the objectives of title I [education for the disabled], X [family planning], XIV [aid to the disabled], XVI [social security disability], or XIX [medical assistance], or part A or D of title IV [grants to state for child aid]." Nope, nothing there about work requirements.

While the TANF work participation requirements are contained in section 407, section 402(a)(1)(A)(iii) requires that the state plan “[e]nsure that parents and caretakers receiving assistance under the program engage in work activities in accordance with section 407.” Thus, HHS has authority to waive compliance with this 402 requirement and authorize a state to test approaches and methods other than those set forth in section 407, including definitions of work activities and engagement, specified limitations, verification procedures, and the calculation of participation rates.Mickey Kaus, who owns this beat, ponders what it all means.

The only non-"gutting" theory I can come up gives HHS rather a lot of credit. It cites waiver memos from Utah and Tennessee for proof that the states are ready for more flexibility. Those states aren't likely to weaken the standards of TANF work programs, are they? But I want to see what other states try and do here, and how they interpret this.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2012/07/13/the_end_of_welfare_reform.html

 

[California Girl]

WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney and a slew of other leading Republicans on Friday slammed the Obama administration's decision to relax some welfare requirements, despite the fact that Republican-led states sought the policy change.

More: Mitt Romney, Other Top Republicans Slam Welfare Change That Republicans Sought

boy, the washington repubs sure are out of sinc with the republican governors?

Are you taking the HuffPuff as something other than left wing hack crap that it is?

 

[Care4all]

More: Mitt Romney, Other Top Republicans Slam Welfare Change That Republicans Sought

boy, the washington repubs sure are out of sinc with the republican governors?

Are you taking the HuffPuff as something other than left wing hack crap that it is?

uhhh, NO, I'm taking what I have read from the repub gvnrs making the request.

Are you just following the crap from Fox and limbaugh and right wing blogs that republicans are saying, that this GUTS welfare reform? Or can you actually think for yourself CG?

 

[Truthseeker420]

Obama Administration fines Ohio for not meeting the standards of the Welfare Reform Act
State Creates New Program To Avoid Federal Fines / ideastream - Northeast Ohio Public Radio, Television and Multiple Media

For years, fewer than one in four welfare recipients in Ohio were either working, in job training programs or doing community service. That violates federal rules requiring half of welfare recipients be working or in work programs, so the feds have fined Ohio millions. To stop the fines, Gov. John Kasich used an executive order to create Ohio Works Now – a program that provides a 10 dollar food stamp benefit through Temporary Aid to Needy Families or TANF funds to poor working families, so they can be counted toward that 50% mark.

 

[Zxereus]

Notice how the panderer-in-chief has made all of these moves this year, his re-election year.

Free contraception = shore up and excite the women vote

"Evolved" and now believes in Gay marriage = shore up and excite the gay vote

Amnesty for the illegal children of illegal aliens = shore up and excite the Hispanic vote

Drop work requirement for welfare recipients = shore up and excite the freeloader vote

 

[Care4all]

Obama Administration fines Ohio for not meeting the standards of the Welfare Reform Act
State Creates New Program To Avoid Federal Fines / ideastream - Northeast Ohio Public Radio, Television and Multiple Media

For years, fewer than one in four welfare recipients in Ohio were either working, in job training programs or doing community service. That violates federal rules requiring half of welfare recipients be working or in work programs, so the feds have fined Ohio millions. To stop the fines, Gov. John Kasich used an executive order to create Ohio Works Now – a program that provides a 10 dollar food stamp benefit through Temporary Aid to Needy Families or TANF funds to poor working families, so they can be counted toward that 50% mark.

yes, this Republican governor of Ohio, has done his own thing, to make the program work better for them....seems like a slight of hand by him, but when you read through the whole article, it seems as though he did it just to get the Feds and penalties off his back, which was hurting the program more than helping.

I think this was done before Obama gave the states the ability to tweak their programs to make them better during this recession.

by no uncertain terms is the program being GUTTED as the right wing blogs are saying.

 

[RoadVirus]

Romney Hits Obama Move Gutting Welfare Reform

Romney hits Obama move gutting welfare reform | WashingtonExaminer.com

Obama...the gift that keeps on giving.