Originally published February 6 2006
Welfare programs bear the brunt of spending cuts just passed in House
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
New spending cuts passed by the House of Representatives and supported mostly by Republicans promise to save $1.6 billion dollars over the next five years, largely by forcing states to drastically cut welfare programs.
Spending cuts passed by the House of Representatives on Monday and tentatively set for Senate action on Wednesday would save $1.6 billion over five years, in part by pressuring states to slash welfare rolls.
The legislation, supported by most Republicans and opposed by most Democrats, revises the landmark 1996 welfare reform law after years of partisan stalemate.
Under the plan, each state would be required to get half of people now on its welfare rolls working by fiscal 2007 or face cuts in their federal block grants for welfare.
Critics such as Mark Greenberg, a welfare expert at the Center for Law and Social Policy, say that to meet the 50 percent work requirement, states might find ways to disqualify vulnerable families from welfare, especially those who would have the most obstacles to work such as poor education or family illness.
The measure, part of the House-Senate spending compromise, would add $1 billion for child-care subsidies.
But critics point out that the Congressional Budget Office itself has said changing state work requirements would require $8 billion in child-care money.
The bill also would provide $500 million for marriage promotion and $250 million for programs promoting responsible fatherhood.
Transitional Medicaid Assistance would be extended one year.
This program lets people who get health care through Medicaid keep it for a year as they move from welfare into the work force.
The Senate had wanted a longer extension.
Additionally, the measure would reduce net funding for child-support enforcement, which helps mostly poor families collect child support from a "deadbeat" or absentee parent.
The liberal-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimated that it was a $1.5 billion cut over five years, and a $4.9 billion cut over a decade.
The Center estimates that changes in foster-care funding, another provision in the bill, would amount to $343 million in net cuts.
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