Are Dems Secretly Gutting Welfare Reform?
Is this the return of welfare wars? The final compromise of the economic stimulus bill includes $5 billion for states that anticipate a larger than expected increase in welfare claims. But to give states maximum flexibility, Democrats have written in a provision that would allow states to increase the number of welfare caseloads while holding steady the percentage people getting Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits that would be required to work or look for jobs. Before we get into the details, a word about the politics: a number of conservatives and even liberals have written to me wondering why the GOP isn’t making more of a fuss about this. The answers are fairly simple: they want to avoid being seen as poor-people bashers, they know that Americans still associate welfare with minorities, and there are different sensitivities they must consider when making political claims about the priorities of the first black president. States get “casework reduction credits” f
