Lucylastic
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Typical right wing bullshit bashing of the poor
PHOENIX (AP) -- Arizona families can now get welfare for no more than one year in their lifetime - the shortest time limit in the nation.
Policy analysts say most states impose a five-year lifetime limit, while 13 states limit the benefits to two years or less.
Arizona's Republican-led legislature made the cuts to make good on the governor's pledge to avoid tax increases.
It means at least 1,600 Arizona families will lose their welfare starting in July.
Welfare is federally funded, but Gov. Doug Ducey's office called the cuts necessary to protect taxpayers and elementary education as the state faces a $1 billion budget deficit.
http://www.aol.com/article/2015/05/18/facing-1-billion-deficit-arizona-sharply-limits-welfare/21184749/
According to the Arizona Department of Economic Security, the average stay on the program is about 14 months, and a single parent with two kids can receive a maximum of just under $280 a month.
"We all want the people to find work, and the last time I checked the unemployment rate in Arizona was higher than the United States average. That means people looking for jobs cannot find them. So then to punish people and say we are letting you fall into crisis is a very damaging policy for the whole state," said Dana Naimark with the Children's Action Alliance.
Naimark and the Alliance lobbied against the cuts at the legislature. They point out that to be in the program the parent has to be actively looking for work. The changes are estimated to effect 1,700 families, and that includes about 2,700 children.
http://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/1926738-story
PHOENIX — Confronting a $1 billion budget deficit, Arizona's Republican-led Legislature has reduced the lifetime limit for welfare recipients to the shortest window in the nation.
Low-income families on welfare will have their benefits cut off after just 12 months.
As a result, the Arizona Department of Economic Security will drop at least 1,600 families — including more than 2,700 children — from the state's federally funded welfare program when the budget year begins in July.
The cuts of at least $4 million reflect a prevailing mood among the lawmakers in control in Arizona that welfare, Medicaid and other public assistance programs are crutches that keep the poor from getting back on their feet and achieving their potential.
“I tell my kids all the time that the decisions we make have rewards or consequences, and if I don't ever let them face those consequences, they can't get back on the path to rewards,” Republican Sen. Kelli Ward, R-Lake Havasu City, said during debate on the budget. “As a society, we are encouraging people at times to make poor decisions, and then we reward them.”
Cutting off benefits after one year isn't fair, said Jessica Lopez, 23, who gave birth to her son while living in a domestic violence shelter and has struggled to hold onto jobs because she has dyslexia and didn't finish high school.
“We're all human,” said Lopez, who got $133 per month for about a year until she qualified for a larger federal disability check. “Everybody has problems. Everybody is different. When people ask for help, we should be able to get it without having to be looked at wrong.”
Most states impose a five-year limit on welfare benefits. Thirteen states limit it to two years or less, and Texas has a tiered time limit that can be as little as 12 months but allows children to continue to receive funding after the parents' benefits have been cut off, welfare policy analyst Liz Schott said.
Long-term welfare recipients are often the most vulnerable, suffering from mental and physical disabilities, poor job histories and little education, she said. Without welfare, they'll likely still pose costs to taxpayers, from emergency rooms to shelters to the criminal justice system, Schott said.
“The reason they are on public assistance is because many of them are not really succeeding in the workforce,” said Schott, a senior fellow at the Center of Budget and Policy Priorities. The group was described by UCLA professor Tim Groseclose in his book “Left Turn” as a left-wing research organization.
Arizona's Legislature cut the budgets of an array of programs to meet the governor's no-tax-increase pledge. The bill that included the welfare cuts received overwhelming support this spring from Republicans, with just one Democrat voting in favor.
The Legislature passed a law seeking to force anyone getting Medicaid to have a job and cutting off those benefits after five years.
Read more: http://triblive.com/usworld/nation/8394965-74/welfare-arizona-benefits#ixzz3jslVykEv
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