Thursday, June 30, 2011

State Budget funds schools on the backs of the poor

Be careful what you ask for.

From last week’s SURVEY RESULTS, most of you felt that it was more important to fund schools than to fund programs for the poor. Of course, in Chester they are almost one in the same.

Yesterday, in Harrisburg, our lawmakers decided to shift control of billions in welfare funding from the legislature to (the governor’s) administration.

The vote came just before the House took up the state budget, with deep cuts to the welfare department as part of the House GOP's effort to restore some education funding.

The measure passed by a 35-15 vote, with five Democrats joining the Republican majority, and is expected to receive final approval Thursday.

Pennsylvania's rule-making process can be long and drawn out and that the change would simply let his department speed things up, particularly as it tries to make the hundreds of millions in cuts that next year's budget will require.

The amendment to the welfare code would let the welfare department change benefit rates, including reducing cash assistance payments, and increase co-payments for child care and health care.

It is unprecedented that a state agency is given this kind of discretion without any checks and balances.

"This is kicking out the most vulnerable. It makes them invisible, like their ideas and lives don't matter," said Mariana Chilton, a professor at Drexel University's School of Public Health and one of the nation's leading experts on hunger.

Click HERE for more

2 comments:

  1. im sorry you feel the way that you do about welfare... I personally dont like it and think there should be limits and more strict guide lines... More and more people are making their livings off the backs of the working class.. I work 2 jobs to support my children and provide for my family, why shouldnt anyone else do the same? Why should i put in 70 hours of work a week when i could just go to the welfare office and apply for benefits.. Welfare breeds laziness and i don't think a child should see their mother staying home all day and getting paid for it because then they see that is the way to live and the cycle continues.

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  2. I am not sure who you are speaking to.

    I did not share how I felt about welfare. Most of those quotes came from the article referenced in the Click Here.

    You opinion sounds like one of a staunch conservative.

    The Department of Welfare includes health care for the poor, child care, and services for the disabled.

    Too many people only see welfare as some lazy project dweller collecting an underserved check.

    President Clinton eliminated much of that fraud and other nonsense in his welfare reform legislation.

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