REPOST
The Michigan House and Senate passed legislation approving a four-year lifetime limit on welfare benefits. If you have been on welfare for four years, you are automatically cut off.
Come October 1, 12,600 families will be cut off the rolls. The family unit will also lose their insurance and their food stamps. Then every month, more people will be eliminated. If you have been on welfare for say three years, you only have one year left. Ohio is also going through this process — they are trying to legislate a three-year time limit. These are examples of the wholesale cuts that are taking place in the Rust Belt against that section of the working class that has the least. If allowed, it could eventually affect the whole working class.
The four-year time limitation is part of TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families), the welfare “reform” bill that was passed in 1996 under the administration of Bill Clinton.
However, it was left up to the states as to when they would implement this part of the bill. Some states rushed to implement it and others tended to leave the time limitation alone.
Now, the present administration in Lansing—via Gov. Snyder—is not only implementing the time limitation with the blessing of the legislative branch of the government, he is going back retroactively.
However, the original legislation establishing the four-year limit was signed by Governor Jennifer Granholm at the beginning of her second term. She promised during her campaign that she would not sign it. She used as an excuse that the legislation only cut off adults, not children in the family. It is unclear from the legislation whether that provision is still maintained.
The Governor says people are to get a job. How can you get a job in an economy that is not producing jobs for the vast majority of people? People are getting thrown off the job rolls by technology. People are going into the Michigan Welfare Rights Office who are trying to match up two or three jobs. They still can’t survive. They are not grossing the amount of money they would have realized if they had their old jobs. They need assistance.
The Michigan government claims that by moving to do the four-year time limitation, an estimated $77.4 million will be saved. There is no consideration given to what will happen to people without money to buy food or shelter. They will be out on the street.
If the masses of people do not rally against these particular cuts, it will set the foundation for the cuts to go deeper. They will continue the taxation on the pension, eat away at other benefits of the workers, and eliminate certain programs not relevant for the corporate interests. If we allow this to go forward, what is it going to do for social security on a federal level? Will there be a time limit for social security? We have to think about this. Enforcement of this bill would set the foundation for all of our benefits to be eliminated.
Something to think about.
Peace, love, hope, and joy,
Rachel Araya
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