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Message started by Paraquat on 04/10/15 at 08:39:16

Title: Maine Welfare Reform
Post by Paraquat on 04/10/15 at 08:39:16

This Is What Happened When Maine Forced Welfare Recipients To Work For Their Benefits

Maine finally took a bold step forward in welfare reform and it’s paying huge dividends.

Last year Maine passed a measure that would require recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as SNAP, to complete a certain number of work, volunteer, or job-training hours before being eligible for assistance.

Main Governor Paul LaPage passed the measure last year and the resulting drop in food-stamp enrollees has been dramatic.

At the close of 2014 approximately 12,000 individuals were enrolled in the state assistance program. Keep in mind that these individuals are adults who aren’t disabled and who don’t have children at home and who are claiming the food-stamp benefits because of a lack of financial resources.

After forcing these individuals to either work part-time for twenty hours each week, enroll in a vocational program, or volunteer for a minimum of twenty-four hours per month, the numbers showed a significant drop from 12,000 enrollees to just over 2,500.

Republicans in the state are calling it a major victory, while Democrats are infuriated and are calling for special measures to roll back some of the strict requirements.

However, even if the requirements lose some of their strictness, once an individual is removed from the Maine food-stamp program they cannot receive benefits from the program for three years.

This is a true victory for welfare reform, and, while opponents are continuing to push back, we can hope that other states will notice the effectiveness of Maine’s program.

Meanwhile, for all the naysayers who say that this program is unfairly targeting those in rural or extremely poor areas, let’s remind ourselves who this program is really affecting.

These individuals who were benefiting from the food-stamp law and who now can’t are able-bodied, capable adults. These aren’t people with physical or mental disabilities or raising growing children. These are regular Joes who don’t seem to want to get a job.

And while I will say that getting a job can be harder than it sounds, Maine’s program solves that difficulty beautifully. If individuals can’t get and hold a part-time job of twenty hours per week, they can qualify by enrolling in training program. If that doesn’t get them a job, they can still qualify by volunteering.

Do you see what Maine did there? They’re making people exhaust their possibilities for employment before giving them a handout. Finally a state government has hit upon a great way to reward people for trying to get jobs and to punish those who sit around feeding off the taxes of the rest of the country.

Now the struggle remains for the rest of the country to work to adopt similarly effective laws.

http://www.usherald.com/maine-welfare-recipients-must-work-for-their-benefits/

--Steve

Title: Re: Maine Welfare Reform
Post by Trippah on 04/11/15 at 20:43:09

It certainly seems reasonable, to require people to either work, train or volunteer in order to get support. The temptation to sit at home doing nothing but pot or drink is too strong, especially if there is snow.

Title: Re: Maine Welfare Reform
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 04/12/15 at 05:10:02

Hmmm, Trippah lives in Maine... Snows a bit up there, dunnit?

Was that one of those Freudian slip thingies?

Title: Re: Maine Welfare Reform
Post by MnSpring on 04/12/15 at 18:16:49

In 1982, I ran for Commissioner of the County I live in.
Part of my platform was:
“Able Bodies, do NOT, get welfare benefits,
unless they work, 20 hours a week, or volunteer 20 hours a week”

My, competitor, went to the, ‘Nursing Homes’,
And LIED, to everybody, and told them:
I was going to make EVERYONE, who was, ‘frail’, ’missing a limb’, ‘could not walk’, or had some other malady.
He, LIED. THEN he actually had, BUSES, take these people to vote,
(Who normally didn’t vote) to the Poles.

It was the biggest turnout of voters in that County Ever.
And I lost by 125 votes, out of 5,200.

Gee, think that influenced my, ‘opinion’ of, ‘elected officials’ ?

Guess I was before my time.

GO MAINE !

Title: Re: Maine Welfare Reform
Post by oldNslow on 04/12/15 at 19:01:38

Quote:

Guess I was before my time.

Nope. You just forgot the two basic rules of gettin' yourself elected.

1. Never,ever, threaten to take away anything that's already being handed out.

2. Always promise some more free sh*t to everybody you talk to.

Works every time :(

Title: Re: Maine Welfare Reform
Post by Trippah on 04/12/15 at 19:50:25

Mass (where I live) tried workfare with some success a while back. Maine, of course, was once part of Mass but wisely split off. As an aside, I was reading a us tax study that argues the home owners interest deduction is the largest single gift to the wealthy, as they have the mansions and the large loans that go with them. ;D ;D ;D ;D Go figure.

Title: Re: Maine Welfare Reform
Post by Pine on 04/13/15 at 07:23:44

Thumbs up on this thread.

It certainly sounds reasonable to me. 24 hours volunteer in a month? Thats less than 1 hour a day.

I know what I would do (were I in such need) 4 hours a day for 6 days at the local animal shelter. How bad could that be?

Title: Re: Maine Welfare Reform
Post by Art Webb on 04/13/15 at 11:07:49

Hmmm, so a guy like me who HAD a part time job (at the time I went on SNAP, now I work full time and support myself) would satisfy the requirement simply by having a job where he puts in 20+ hours a week? sounds reasonable, and honestly, I would have been very happy to have been offered job training (though paying for it would be a problem, such programs aren't free here) and volunteering 24 hrs a month would have been fine
I do disagree with an arbitrary 3 years of no possibility of reinstatement, sometime a job you though was permanent just dries up and blows away, through no fault of yours
other than that, as a guy who has, at one time or another, been on most forms of welfare, (and always was in a hurry to get off) I approvre of the plan

Title: Re: Maine Welfare Reform
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 04/13/15 at 11:14:22

do disagree with an arbitrary 3 years of no possibility of reinstatement,

Yeah, why do that? That would make people want to stay IN the program.

Title: Re: Maine Welfare Reform
Post by Art Webb on 04/13/15 at 11:20:28

Yup, when Jeanne left me, and I went on SNAP, every time I got a raise my first thought was 'will this DQ me?' because even without an arbitrary wait, getting SNAP restarted takes time, and you can't eat promises
of course, that also shows how easy it is to become 'institutionalized', even for an independent cuss like me

Title: Re: Maine Welfare Reform
Post by MnSpring on 04/16/15 at 17:55:49

35 years ago, I bought a piece of land in the country.
The P.O. was farming from center of road to center of road.
(Figuratively)
I planted trees, and mowed grass.

Their was a 2 acre site, which would be perfect, for a garden.
And their were two good wells on this property,
About 15 years ago, I went to the County and said:
Here is this land, you can USE, FREE of charge,
Have your, ‘welfare’, precipitants, come out and,
till, plant, sow, harvest, ALL they want.
I will provide the Land for FREE, and the Water for FREE".

And guess what ?

They were ALL to LAZY, to WORK, to get, FREE FOOD !

Title: Re: Maine Welfare Reform
Post by MnSpring on 04/16/15 at 18:17:54

Oh, just to, ‘ward’ off, the people that may say:
“Oh They Can’t get their”.

Let’s see, 3 miles from a town of 2,500, and 3 miles from another town of 5,000,
and 5 miles from a town of, 7,500, and 6 miles from a town of 4,000.

YET 25 + Miles away, from ANY of those towns,
lies a, FREE FOOD SHELF.
(It is actually in another County.)
Which I spent the day, at the driveway,
(Working a Auction next door)
And Watched, NEW, Shiny, Cadillac Luxury cars & SUVs, Land Rovers, Jaguars, decked out cars of all sorts,
get, FREE FOOD, from the food shelf.
LESS than 10% were rusted out, smoking, badly running, POS.
(People who I thought actually ‘deserved’, FREE FOOD)

So the statement, ‘People can’t get their’ is NOT valid !

Oh, and the new ‘Metro Train’, allows, FREE RIDES.
And the, ‘Metro Buss’, offers FREE RIDES.
And hanging in EVERY Gas station, is a County flyer,
offering, FREE RIDES, to the courthouse to get, ‘Benefits’.

Title: Re: Maine Welfare Reform
Post by Art Webb on 04/16/15 at 21:26:43

Reminds me of the REAL story of the first thanksgiving (not the pure fabrication they teach in public schools)