Let's keep in mind that when they say "able-bodied adult" they are, for the most part, talking about women with children.
LANSING, Mich. (AP)The state Senate voted Thursday to limit cash assistance for able-bodied welfare recipients to four years and implement a two-year ban on aid for those who do not comply with work or training requirements three times.
The House was scheduled Thursday to vote on similar legislation, which would be the first significant change to the state's welfare program since former Gov. John Engler overhauled it in the 1990s.
The House and Senate were considering slightly different reforms, but both want to provide more education and job skills to help recipients permanently move off welfare. They also want to limit benefits and set tougher penalties for failing to comply with requirements.
OK, that's very cool. I can get behind that. How do we pay for it?
Well? < crickets chirping >
Legislation that was to be considered by the House only would allow welfare recipients to continue receiving cash assistance after four years if they are disabled or they are taking care of a disabled relative. Able-bodied adults on the welfare rolls for more than four years would get a one-year grace period before possibly losing their aid.
The Senate voted 24-11 to approve a four-year limit with slightly more flexibility. It would allow welfare recipients who have been in compliance with work and training requirements for four years to apply for a one-year extension.
A four-year limit would affect about 8,100 cases, or about 20,000 individuals, including many children, according to a nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency analysis.
About 212,000 people currently receive cash assistance, the House Fiscal Agency said. The average monthly payment per household is $415, or about $5,000 a year, the agency said.
Again, we are talking children. We are talking about taking away money, a whole whopping $400 a month, from children. Children who will end up hungry. Children who will end up homeless.
At the same time all of this is going on, the whackjobs in the Michigan Senate have this little gem in mind-
From Planned Parenthood comes this action alert.
Bill Interfering with Doctor-Patient Relationship Out of Senate Committee
Yesterday afternoon, the Senate Health Policy Committee held a hearing on House Bill 4446, the bill to mandate ultrasounds before an abortion and require that a woman be given a physical picture of the ultrasound image and the opportunity to view the live ultrasound. This bill passed the Michigan House of Representatives in the spring with an amendment to remove the requirement that the ultrasound be performed 24 hours before an abortion.
Please take action to oppose this mean-spirited and unnecessary legislation. Once again, instead of working to prevent unintended pregnancies, Michigan's legislature is chipping away at a woman's right to determine whether and when to have a child.
Yes, the Michigan House and Senate want to pass a bill that requires unnecessary medical procedures be done to a citizen of the state seeking health care. Without even getting into the abortion debate, I want you to stop and think about that little idea. The state requiring you to have an unnecessary procedure. Probably want you to pay for it, too.
So, back to the welfare story. Here's an interesting scenario.
A woman has unprotected sex. Oops. It happens. Sometimes it happens because of carelessness. Sometimes it happens because of coercion and force. Sometimes it's not even "unprotected", birth control can fail.
She tried to get Plan B, but because the state legislature has banned the over the counter sale of the drug and she doesn't have a doctor, she can't get a prescription in time for it to be effective. Or perhaps she does get the prescription, but finds that the state legislature has written laws that say the pharmacists in her area don't have to dispense it if they don't want to. (see same story) She finds herself pregnant.
She doesn't want to have another kid. After all she can't afford to feed the ones she has because the state has cut her off, so she goes to seek an abortion only to be told that she has to have an ultrasound and be forced to look at the pictures. She can't afford an ultrasound and there are none available to low income women in her area. Oh well, too bad.
She goes through with the pregnancy. If she's unemployed, chances are no one will hire her if she has to take extended time off in the near future. If she is employed, especially at a small business not covered by the Family Leave Act (which they are also trying to do away with) she might lose her job because she will have to take time off to have the baby.
Now we have another hungry mouth to feed in the world. And a mother who might end up jobless and homeless thanks to some guys in suits who felt the need to kowtow to the religious extremists who would force their version of "morality" on women and to the greedy Republicans who would rather give tax breaks to millionaires than feed hungry children.
This the kind of state we want to live in? If we let the radical Republicans keep it up, we will be the "Mississippi of the North."
These assholes have got to go.