Nation’s largest welfare state makes deep cuts, By Sheila V Kumar (AP), December 28, 2011, Sacramento Bee: “Advocates of welfare reform in California often cite one, eye-popping statistic as they have pressed for cuts and changes to the program in recent years: The state has one-eighth of the nation’s population but one-third of all welfare recipients.Yet steps taken in recent years to cut costs and get more recipients back in the workforce have run head-on into the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression. Recipients have been left with fewer training programs, shrinking welfare checks and a shorter period during which they are eligible to receive assistance at a time when employment prospects for even highly qualified job-seekers are dim.That has led to fear and uncertainty among welfare recipients, many of whom have spent a year or more in job-preparation programs without success…”

48-month cap on welfare benefits heads to Snyder, By Karen Bouffard, August 24, 2011, Detroit News: “About 12,600 families will be thrown off cash assistance starting Oct. 1 if Gov. Rick Snyder signs a 48-month cap on welfare passed in the House and Senate today. The legislation passed 73-34 in the House, mostly along party lines, after it was granted immediate effect earlier today in the Senate. It now heads to the governor to be signed into law. The cap is opposed by Democrats and child advocates who say Michigan’s high unemployment rate means parents removed from the rolls won’t be able to find jobs. About 25,000 to 30,000 children would be affected, according to estimates…”

Welfare reform law faces revision at 15, By Cheryl Wetzstein, August 21, 2011, Washington Times: “Don’t expect much hoopla or cake-cutting as the landmark welfare reform law passed by President Clinton and congressional Republicans in the mid-1990s celebrates its 15th anniversary Monday. Even though the widely touted overhaul of the national safety net for the poor and unemployed has touched the lives of virtually every American family, the Obama administration and Congress are debating new changes to the system, and a temporary extension of the main welfare programs is likely again with another funding deadline looming Sept. 30. But another round of welfare reform is not being ignored on Capitol Hill. Both the House and Senate have had committee hearings, and in March, a group of House Republicans introduced a bill to begin ‘managing’ welfare by requiring a public accounting of the costs of 70-plus federal anti-poverty programs…”

Welfare change lets parents get training before job hunting, By Philip Marcelo, July 25, 2011, Providence Journal: “Rhode Island welfare recipients will be able to do more than seek a job in order to initially earn their benefits, following a change included in this year’s state budget. Now, qualified parents will be able to immediately pursue work-related activities like vocational education and literacy classes, which would make them better- prepared for the job market, according to advocates. The new provision marks the most significant change lawmakers have made to the state welfare program since it was overhauled in 2008 under then-Republican Gov. Donald L. Carcieri, and renamed Rhode Island Works. It is also one victory that supporters of the poor can point to in a budget that slashed more than $78 million for human service programs for people who are elderly, disabled or have low incomes…”

Michigan Senate passes 48-month limit on welfare, raises wage cap, By Karen Bouffard, July 13, 2011, Detroit News: “Welfare benefits are limited to 48-months under a bill passed today in a special summer session of the state Senate. Democrats voted as a bloc against the legislation, which passed 24-12. The two-bill package would extend to all recipients a 48-month limit that now applies only to those eligible to participate in the state’s Work First program and who live in an area where the Jobs, Education and Training (JET) program is available. The 48-month limit for those enrolled in JET is due to expire Sept. 30. Eliminating that sunset will throw 12,600 families, with an average monthly benefit of $515, off the welfare rolls Oct. 1. Savings to the state would total $77.4 million, including $65 million in the general fund. The bill includes some exemptions to the cap, and the Department of Human Services would be allowed to exempt up to 6,100 cases during the 2012 fiscal year. The House already approved the bill, but it was changed slightly by the Senate, which gave more discretion to the state Department of Human Services to grant exemptions to the time limit. The package now returns to the House for concurrence and must also be signed by Gov. Rick Snyder to become law…”

• Criticism for cuts to programs that help people get off welfare, By Alfred Lubrano, July 4, 2011, Philadelphia Inquirer: “In a GED classroom emptied by state budget cuts last Thursday, instructor Marylou Fusco began removing paper cutouts that her students - single mothers working to get off welfare - had made of their own hands that were tacked to a bulletin board. On the palms of the hands, the women had written their life goals: ‘Get off welfare.’ ‘Go to college.’ ‘Get my own place for me and my kids.’ After 15 years, the GED classes were quickly ended to reflect the new reality dictated by state budget line No. 5297.55: Cut the welfare-to-work program by $17 million - nearly 48 percent. The new reality postpones or ends the hopes and wishes scrawled across the women’s palms. Still more cuts were made in other programs meant to help the poor in a budget process that saw the Corbett administration push through a controversial last-minute Senate measure that shifts control of welfare funding from the legislature to his administration…”
• NJ reverses order to cut $15 from welfare checks, By Erik Larsen, July 6, 2011, Asbury Park Press: “The state of New Jersey has reversed an order to its 21 counties to make a $15 per person reduction in monthly welfare checks issued to single adults and childless couples. Mary Fran McFadden, director of the Ocean County Board of Social Services, said Tuesday that anyone affected by the change before the order was rescinded will be reimbursed. The benefits change was to begin last Friday, the start of the state’s new fiscal year. There are more than 3,100 county residents on General Assistance who stood to be impacted by the change…”

• Curb on use of welfare cash OK’d, By Michael Levenson, April 27, 2011, Boston Globe: “House lawmakers voted unanimously last night to ban welfare recipients from spending their cash benefits on alcohol, tobacco, and lottery tickets, reigniting an issue that flared during Governor Deval Patrick’s reelection campaign last year. The House approved the ban, as part of a larger amendment to the state budget, on a 155-0 vote. The measure not only targets welfare recipients, it also bans store owners from accepting welfare debit cards for purchases of alcohol, tobacco, and lottery tickets. Store owners who violate the ban could be fined $500 for the first offense, and more than $1,000 for subsequent offenses…”
• Bill would restrict where state welfare funds can be used, By John Stang, April 27, 2011, Kitsap Sun: “The Washington Senate on Wednesday approved an overhaul of the state’s WorkFirst program that tightens controls over how welfare payments may be spent. The 44-0 vote sends the bill to the House. The state’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program includes a WorkFirst component that requires recipients to seek jobs. A state study unveiled in February said the WorkFirst program cannot adequately function in its current financial set up. The study recommended a review of eligibility requirements and of the amounts of financial assistance given to families. The bill suspends the WorkFirst requirements for some families until July 1, 2012, when the state Department of Health and Human Services is supposed to begin phasing in a revamped WorkFirst program…”

Judge orders child care subsidies continued, By Marisa Lagos, November 6, 2010, San Francisco Chronicle: “Thousands of poor California families who rely on state subsidies to pay for child care will have a few more weeks of help after an Alameda County judge agreed Friday to postpone budget cuts to the welfare program. In a ruling issued Friday, Judge Wynne Carvill determined that the state did not do a good enough job telling recipients about options when it informed them last month that the subsidies were being terminated. He ordered the Department of Education to keep paying for the program until the court takes up the issue on Nov. 23. Advocates for the families filed suit against the state last month, after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used his line-item veto power to eliminate the $256 million annual subsidy, known as CalWORKS stage 3. The governor vetoed the allocation when he signed the budget last month to increase the state’s reserve fund…”

State limits use of welfare recipients’ debit cards, By Jack Dolan, November 2, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “California welfare recipients will no longer be able to use their state-issued debit cards at medical marijuana shops, psychics, massage parlors and many other businesses whose services have been deemed ‘inconsistent’ with the goals of the program. The Schwarzenegger administration sent a letter to county welfare directors Monday announcing that ATMs and point-of-sale card readers in such business will be removed from the network that accepts California’s Electronic Benefits Transfer cards. The letter said the cards, which allow access to cash meant to help families pay rent and clothe their children, also will no longer work at bail bond establishments, bingo halls, gun shops, bars, race tracks, smoking shops, tattoo parlors and on cruise ships…”

Welfare reform failing poor single mothers, By Melinda Burns, October 28, 2010, Miller-McCune: “The women at the bottom in America, single mothers on public assistance, are sometimes called ‘drawer people,’ the subjects of case files that stay in the welfare manager’s drawer, year after year. They are mothers who quit work or can’t work because they are ill or disabled, or illiterate, or victims of abuse, or the sole caregivers for an elderly parent or chronically sick child. These so-called hard-to-serve single mothers may include women who fail to apply for the 70 jobs in one month required to qualify for a federal cash grant. They may want to go to school full time, which is against welfare rules in some states. They may be approaching the five-year lifetime limit for cash assistance that most states impose. Or they may simply not own a car…”

Proposal would restore state funding for child care, By Patrick McGreevy, October 19, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “Upset that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed $256 million in child-care money for the poor, the state Assembly leader announced a proposal Monday to go around the governor and restore funding until a new chief executive takes office in January. The program pays child-care costs for working parents who take jobs to move off welfare but can’t afford day care. The governor’s action means child care for 60,000 families will end Nov. 1 unless a stopgap measure is found. It would cost $60 million to extend the program through Jan. 1, after which the new Legislature could try to pass a measure to restore full funding, according to Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles)…”

• Welfare: Well-meaning, well-funded, well-done?, By John Richardson, October 17, 2010, Portland Press Herald: “Wherever the candidates for governor go in Maine, they say, one question is likely to follow them. What are you going to do about welfare? ‘I have never seen anger this intense about anything, with the possible exception of the Vietnam War,’ said Eliot Cutler, one of three independent candidates on the ballot. The face of welfare in Maine might be a mother buying cigarettes with her state-issued debit card. It might be an elderly neighbor on the edge of becoming homeless. Both pictures are accurate — and that’s one of the reasons that Maine’s complex system of aid to the poor creates starkly different views of welfare and the people who receive it. With a gubernatorial election coming in between a deep recession and a billion-dollar budget crisis, the topic of public assistance for the poor may be the most emotionally charged issue in the Nov. 2 election. Advocates and critics of the system both throw out statistics to support their views, but it is clear that Maine’s system is facing historic pressures…”
• Maine welfare system data proves hard to get, By John Richardson, October 17, 2010, Portland Press Herald: “There is nearly universal agreement on one criticism of Maine’s welfare system: Getting detailed information on what the state spends and who gets the money can be a tall order…”
• Poll shows Mainers dissatisfied with, mistrustful of assistance programs, By John Richardson, October 17, 2010, Portland Press Herald: “Maine voters are frustrated and skeptical about the state’s public assistance programs, and Republican gubernatorial candidate Paul LePage has tapped into that anger far more than his rivals, according to a poll by MaineToday Media…”
• From Welfare to Work: For many Mainers, there’s no free lunch, By John Richardson, October 18, 2010, Portland Press Herald: “It’s 7:30 a.m., and Portland’s General Assistance office is filled with men and women who need help paying their rent or some other basic expense. But they’re here for the day’s job assignments. One by one, they are sent off to clean the city’s homeless shelter, do laundry at the Barron Center, clean up a park or do clerical work at City Hall, among other tasks. These days, for thousands of Mainers, welfare is work. And people on the receiving end say they like it that way…”
• Candidates tackle welfare: State’s assistance programs face a political reality check, By John Richardson, October 19, 2010, Portland Press Herald: “From a business executive who grew up in poverty to a longtime legislator who defends public assistance programs, the candidates for governor have widely differing perspectives on welfare in Maine. Whoever wins Nov. 2 is sure to oversee changes in Maine’s welfare system…”

Welfare recipients pay banks millions in fees, By Marisa Lagos, October 15, 2010, San Francisco Chronicle: “Banks are making nearly $1.5 million a month in fees by charging California welfare recipients to withdraw their benefits using ATMs and debit cards - an amount that has nearly doubled since 2008. The sharp increase comes as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration has made cracking down on fraud in the state’s welfare-to-work program a priority, most recently by barring use of welfare debit cards at casinos and cruise ships after media reports revealed that nearly $70 million in benefits had been withdrawn outside the state since 2007. Advocates for the poor say that while Schwarzenegger has rightly cracked down on such abuses, he has failed to curb another source of waste: escalating bank fees that take money from needy families and from the California businesses where that money would otherwise flow. By the end of this year, they estimate, more than $38 million will have been transferred from poor families to banks in the form of ATM and debit fees over the past three years. For example, in 2008, according to state figures, banks collected $10.1 million in fees from welfare recipients; this year, they are on track to collect more than $15 million. In June 2008, recipients paid out $833,000; banks collected $1.44 million the same month this year…”

• Child care cuts force families to waiting lists, By Susan Ferriss, October 15, 2010, Sacramento Bee: “As soon as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used his veto power last week to slash all $256 million in funding for a child care program she uses, Daniella Scally asked for a day off work to go door to door looking for other options. All the panicked Sacramento mother of three could do was add her children’s names to waiting lists. As of Nov. 1, Scally and 30,000 other families and 55,000 children face an immediate crisis. They will lose all subsidies that help them pay for their children’s child care needs under a special program known as CalWORKs Stage 3 Child Care. Schwarzenegger vetoed the child care money and more than $700 million from other programs from the newly passed state budget in order to build the state’s reserve fund. The Stage 3 program was designed to support parents who have graduated from California’s welfare-to-work program, CalWORKs, and have been completely off all cash aid for two years and gainfully employed…”
• State vetoes cut into Valley families’ child care, By Chris Collins, October 15, 2010, Fresno Bee: “After she got off welfare four years ago, Fresno single-mom Cristina Guillen vowed to provide for her kids without relying on the welfare system again. But now cuts to a government-funded child-care program threaten to push Guillen and hundreds of other families in Fresno County out of their jobs and back onto the dole. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued line-item vetoes to the state budget on Oct. 8 that totaled nearly $1 billion, including $256 million for child-care subsidies for families formerly on welfare. The cuts will affect about 1,500 families and almost 3,000 kids in Fresno County alone. Guillen, 30, had relied on the subsidies to pay for her children’s child care. With no one else available to care for her younger children while she’s at work, she said she may have to quit her job…”

$69 million in California welfare money drawn out of state, By Jack Dolan, October 4, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “More than $69 million in California welfare money, meant to help the needy pay their rent and clothe their children, has been spent or withdrawn outside the state in recent years, including millions in Las Vegas, hundreds of thousands in Hawaii and thousands on cruise ships sailing from Miami. State-issued aid cards have been used at hotels, shops, restaurants, ATMs and other places in 49 other states, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam, according to data obtained by The Times from the California Department of Social Services. Las Vegas drew $11.8 million of the cash benefits, far more than any other destination. The money was accessed from January 2007 through May 2010. Welfare recipients must prove they can’t afford life’s necessities without government aid: A single parent with two children generally must earn less than $14,436 a year to qualify for the cash assistance and becomes ineligible once his or her income exceeds about $20,000, said Lizelda Lopez, spokeswoman for the Department of Social Services…”

L.A. County welfare to children of illegal immigrants grows, By Teresa Watanabe, September 5, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “Welfare payments to children of illegal immigrants in Los Angeles County increased in July to $52 million, prompting renewed calls from one county supervisor to rein in public benefits to such families. The payments, made to illegal immigrants for their U.S. citizen children, included $30 million in food stamps and $22 million from the CalWorks welfare program, according to county figures released Friday by Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich. The new figure represents an increase of $3.7 million from July 2009 and makes up 23% of all county welfare and food stamp assistance, according to county records…”

• WA gov announces $51M in cuts to state welfare, By Rachel La Corte (AP), August 12, 2010, Seattle Times: “Fewer people will qualify for a state welfare program that provides child care subsidies and help finding a job under cuts announced by Gov. Chris Gregoire on Thursday. She said that at least $51 million is being cut from WorkFirst, the state’s welfare-to-work program, because while enrollment continues to rise, matching funds from the federal government have remained flat since the 1990s. The program, started in August 1997, helps low-income families with support and training in getting and keeping jobs, offering things like monthly stipends and child care subsidies. Most of the cuts will come from granting fewer extensions to families who reach the five-year time limit and lowering the income eligibility for the child care subsidy. Other cuts will be made to employment, education and training services…”
• Gregoire: $51M to be cut from state welfare aid, By Brad Shannon, August 13, 2010, Tacoma News Tribune: “Gov. Chris Gregoire asked state government agencies to get ready for across-the-board budget cuts of 4 percent to 7 percent as soon as October and ordered a phase-in of $51 million in cuts to state welfare aid. Gregoire painted a gloomy scenario, with state budget reserves now totaling just $72 million for the remaining 10 months of the budget cycle. The money cushion could disappear if revenue forecasts in September and November show further tax losses, which Gregoire said Tuesday she expects…”

Subsidized jobs: A faint echo of the New Deal, By Christine Vestal, June 18, 2010, Stateline.org: “In rural Winston County, Mississippi, Taylor Machine Works - best known for its Big Red forklifts - is the primary employer. After the recession hit in late 2008, the company shed nearly 200 of its 500 jobs and would not be rehiring anyone now if it weren’t for a subsidized employment program Mississippi launched with the help of federal stimulus money. Nationwide, 32 states are tapping into a $5 billion emergency fund under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) welfare-to-work program - to help small businesses, nonprofits and public hospitals hire and train unemployed workers at a time when few organizations are ready to take on the added cost. This is not exactly the Works Progress Administration. During the Great Depression, the federal government subsidized employment for more than 8.5 million jobless workers under the WPA. Although maligned for its massive cost and the fact that millions of workers were collecting paychecks directly from the federal government, others credited the New Deal jobs program with returning dignity and hope to millions of American families…”

Cuts to child care subsidy thwart more job seekers, By Peter S. Goodman, May 23, 2010, New York Times: “Able-bodied, outgoing and accustomed to working, Alexandria Wallace wants to earn a paycheck. But that requires someone to look after her 3-year-old daughter, and Ms. Wallace, a 22-year-old single mother, cannot afford child care. Last month, she lost her job as a hair stylist after her improvised network of baby sitters frequently failed her, forcing her to miss shifts. She qualifies for a state-run subsidized child care program. But like many other states, Arizona has slashed that program over the last year, relegating Ms. Wallace’s daughter, Alaya, to a waiting list of nearly 11,000 eligible children. Despite a substantial increase in federal support for subsidized child care, which has enabled some states to stave off cuts, others have trimmed support, and most have failed to keep pace with rising demand, according to poverty experts and federal officials. That has left swelling numbers of low-income families struggling to reconcile the demands of work and parenting, just as they confront one of the toughest job markets in decades…”

• Schwarzenegger’s budget is a blow to the poor, By Shane Goldmacher, May 15, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “Proposing a budget that would eliminate the state’s welfare-to-work program and most child care for the poor, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday outlined a stark vision of a California that would sharply limit aid to some of its poorest and neediest citizens. His $83.4-billion plan would also freeze funding for local schools, further cut state workers’ pay and take away 60% of state money for local mental health programs. State parks and higher education are among the few areas the governor’s proposal would spare. The proposal, which would not raise taxes, also relies on $3.4 billion in help from Washington — roughly half of what the governor sought earlier this year — to help close a budget gap now estimated at $19.1 billion. Billions more would be saved through accounting moves and fund shifts…”
• Schwarzenegger calls for cutting welfare-to-work, other programs in bleak California budget, By Steven Harmon, May 15, 2010, San Jose Mercury News: “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday rolled out a blueprint for grim work this spring, calling on lawmakers to repair a $19.1 billion hole in the state budget largely by gutting safety net programs. Democrats insisted they will fight the most devastating proposals, such as eliminating the state’s welfare-to-work program, slashing in-home care for the disabled and elderly and cutting millions from the state’s insurance program for low-income children and pregnant women…”

Welfare change squeezes sole parents, By Adele Horn, May 5, 2010, Sydney Morning Herald: “Thousands of sole parents are worse off under rules that changed their child support entitlements and forced them to get a job or go on the dole, new research reveals. A typical sole parent with one child aged between six and 12 could be as much as $6700 a year worse off as a result of reforms initiated by the Howard government and introduced from 2006 to 2008. The study, by academics at Murdoch University in Perth, shows only when typical sole parents get a full-time job paying at least $45,000 can they be better off with the new arrangements. But this is unlikely for most as their youngest child is only seven or eight when they have to move off the Parenting Payment and into the workforce…”

• Eligible families in need fall through the cracks, By Mary Spicuzza, April 13, 2010, Wisconsin State Journal: “Just two days before she was due to have a baby, a young mother said she was discouraged from applying for the state’s welfare-to-work program after being told her fiance - who’d struggled to find work - should go out and get a job. Another woman said she’d spent months looking for work but complained of rude job center employees who never mentioned the program, Wisconsin Works (W-2) to her. And a mother who has been living on nothing but food stamps said she dropped out of the W-2 program after less than a year, partly because the schedule for required job training and classes was so demanding. They were among the dozens of people who told the Wisconsin State Journal that despite living in deep poverty - many of them with no income other than food stamps - they still aren’t receiving cash payments or other benefits they could be eligible for under W-2…”
• DFL legislator says welfare policy penalizes women who have a miscarriage, By Madeleine Baran, April 13, 2010, Minnesota Public Radio: “A key DFL lawmaker has asked the state to change a policy that limits welfare benefits for mothers who suffer a miscarriage. State Sen. Linda Berglin, DFL-Minneapolis, proposed an amendment on Tuesday that would remove what she calls an unintended and obscure barrier to welfare benefits. Under current law, in many cases welfare officials can deny cash grants for children who are born to a mother who suffered a previous miscarriage while on welfare. ‘It’s pretty rare, but it is sad when it does happen,’ said Jessica Webster, a policy advocate with Legal Aid. The agency has represented clients who have challenged the welfare policy. Webster said that the denials are the result of a complicated and often confusing welfare system…”

In a tough economy, old limits on welfare, By Robert Pear, April 10, 2010, New York Times: “Kimberly E. Kaplan recently received a notice telling her that she and her three children were about to lose their monthly welfare benefit of $584 because they had reached the time limit on cash assistance and she had not made adequate efforts to find work. Ms. Kaplan, 43, is required to work 20 hours a week, but is seeking a hardship exemption. Her 4-year-old son, Landon, has psychological and behavioral problems, and she said that ‘it’s a full-time job to take care of him.’ Rhode Island has the nation’s third-highest unemployment rate, but the welfare rolls here continue to decline because of the time limits and stringent work requirements. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of Americans receiving benefits under the main federal-state welfare program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, has increased less than 10 percent, even though unemployment has nearly doubled and the number of people receiving food stamps has grown more than 40 percent, to 39 million…”

Miss. leading work program, By Gary Pettus, March 7, 2010, Jackson Clarion Ledger: “Instead of depending forever on food stamps, Jessica Eubanks has deserted the unemployment line for a full-time job in a pediatrician’s office. In the meantime, the state of Mississippi - the best in the nation at moving people from welfare to work - temporarily helps her pay for child care and transportation costs.’I just needed a chance,’ said Eubanks, 29, of Florence, a single mother of three. ‘And someone gave it to me.’ Those payments flow out of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families work program, which is helping thousands of Mississippians find jobs and keep them. It’s a result of the government’s effort to make a paycheck more attractive than a welfare check, while still tending to the needs of poor children. ‘I believe some people don’t know how blessed we are to have this program,’ Eubanks said. Administered by the state’s Department of Human Services, Mississippi’s TANF program is ranked No. 1 in the country for work participation rates at 63.2 percent. The national rate is under 30 percent…”

Welfare crackdown misses targets, By Adele Horn, March 11, 2010, Sydney Morning Herald: “The welfare-to-work reform implemented under the Howard government failed to achieve its objectives, leaving three of the four target groups - disability pensioners, the very long-term unemployed and mature-age unemployed - little or no better off, an official report shows. Sole parents fared better in the job market after the reforms began in July 2006. The numbers on the single parenting payment fell significantly from 433,730 before the reform to 338,756 in December 2009. But it is unclear if sole parents are financially better off. The report, by the research and evaluation group of the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, says the results were mixed. Despite being implemented at a time of strong labour market demand: ‘Welfare to work was only partly successful in achieving its objectives…’”

$3.8B in stimulus funds for welfare jobs untouched, By Dionne Walker (AP), February 19, 2010, Washington Post: “Desperate though they are to fill gaps in their budgets, more than half the states in the country haven’t touched a $5 billion pot of federal stimulus funds meant to find work for welfare recipients. Leaders in most states have hesitated to pony up the matching funds the program requires to create jobs that might not last after the federal subsidy’s Sept. 30 sunset date. The Department of Health and Human Services has handed out $1.2 billion of the emergency cash for general welfare programs. That includes $124 million that went to 21 states and the District of Colombia to help them ease caseloads by paying employers to hire low-skilled, low-income workers. States such as California, Tennessee and Georgia - where officials have seen unemployment rates spike among recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families - are eagerly tapping the fund to subsidize the creation of thousands of jobs they say keep these workers from sinking further into poverty…”

• Schwarzenegger’s plan could cut deep for those who depend on state stipends, By Susan Ferriss, February 1, 2010, Sacramento Bee: “For Capitol insiders, it’s easy to chalk it up as a bluff when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposes terminating welfare-to-work and in-home care for the disabled if California doesn’t get billions in federal money he’s requested. But it’s no chess game for a welfare-to-work mother seriously trying to find a job, or a person in a wheelchair whose living stipend has already been slashed twice in one year. Social services spending is a big chunk of the state budget and is often cited as a prime example of runaway spending. Indeed, national comparisons show California is home to nearly a third of all welfare-to-work recipients. The typical $694 monthly welfare-to-work grant a mother and two children receive in California trails only Alaska and New York. The $845 monthly grant for low-income elderly or disabled individuals under the SSI/SSP program likewise is third-highest in the nation. But numbers also show that California’s safety net is getting less generous all the time…”
• Missouri governor’s budget proposal would trim into social safety net, By Jason Noble, January 31, 2010, Kansas City Star: “About $1.4 million in state funds reaches 844 teen parents and at-risk youths in nine sites across Missouri, connecting them with mentors and delivering parenting tips and life skills. Come July 1, however, state aid may drop to zero dollars under the budget proposal released earlier this month by Gov. Jay Nixon. ‘This is tragic what’s happening right now in the state,’ said Amy Beechner-McCarthy, executive director of the Community Partnership in Rolla. ‘And, unfortunately, it’s those with the least voice that are hurting the most.’ In his budget, Nixon strived to make $253 million in cuts with scissor snips rather than machete swipes. The effort was lauded by many in the social services arena, who feared deep cuts to education and aid to the poor. But even the smallest cuts will have real effects on the state’s social safety net, service providers said. The cuts, if carried through by the General Assembly, will cause populations in difficult circumstances to lose services. Advocates worry it also may end up costing the state more in the long run…”

Welfare-to-work program not working, audit finds, By Phil Kabler, January 11, 2010, Charleston Gazette: “It’s called ‘welfare to work,’ but a legislative audit released Monday found that only about 14 percent of the state program’s recipients actually find employment before their benefits end. The study of West Virginia Works welfare benefits from 2001 to 2006 found that, at the time recipients’ cases were closed, an average of only 14 percent had found employment. Another 14 percent were unemployed but looking for work, while roughly 72 percent were unemployed and not actively seeking employment. Those figures trended downward over the five years: In 2001, nearly 31 percent of welfare recipients were employed when their cases closed. By 2006, that figure was below 6 percent…”

Many potential recipients aren’t getting W-2 benefits, By Patrick Marley, January 2, 2010, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Thousands of families with no income are not applying for cash benefits from Wisconsin Works, often because they don’t know about the program, a new state report shows. State Department of Children and Families investigators found 14,114 families with dependent children in October 2009 that had no income and received food stamps but did not get cash payments through W-2. Many of those families, considered to be living in ‘deep poverty,’ would likely qualify for cash payments, though the department did not estimate how many of them would. The 14,114 poor families that were not receiving cash benefits is nearly twice the size of the 8,627 families that received payments that month. Advocates for the poor have long complained that the state has discouraged people from getting cash benefits through W-2, the state’s welfare-to-work program. They won a lawsuit in 2007 to allow people to receive money even if they are considered ‘job ready…’”

• Hawaii’s welfare numbers rising for first time in decade, By Mary Vorsino, December 27, 2009, Honolulu Advertiser: “For the first time in a decade, the number of Hawai’i families receiving state- or federally funded cash benefits is up from the year before as the economic crisis hits the state’s poorest in what advocates say illustrates the scope of need in the community. Advocates also worry more increases are still to come. This year, the average welfare caseload in the Islands increased by about 4 percent compared with 2008 - or by about 300 families. ‘This is the safety net,’ said Debbie Shimizu, executive director of the National Association of Social Workers-Hawai’i, adding, ‘This group is probably going to get bigger…’”
• Welfare program for jobless on rise, By Sara Gavin, December 28, 2009, Charleston Daily Mail: “After declining steadily for the past decade, temporary welfare payments from the state to families who have exhausted all other benefits are on the rise again. WV WORKS, administered by the Department of Health and Human Resources, was restructured in 1997 to provide temporary assistance to families who have exhausted other benefit avenues. The program initially carried a caseload of nearly 38,000. It is part of the larger cash assistance program known as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. WV Works cases had been declining steadily over the past decade, bottoming out at about 9,000 statewide. But over the past 18 months officials have seen a steady uptick of about 1,800 additional cases, bringing the new total to almost 11,000 in West Virginia…”

• Experts say welfare safety net inadequate to aid jobless, strapped families in recession, By Jim Abrams (AP), December 9, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “The 1996 law that ended an American’s right to welfare also frayed the safety net for some people trying to cope with the current recession. The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program that grew out of that law has responded slowly to the increasingly number of people without jobs and descending into poverty, witnesses told the House Budget Committee on Wednesday. They said that contrasted with sharply increased activity in other safety net programs, including unemployment insurance benefits and food stamps…”
• Why welfare reform fails its recession test, By Peter Edelman and Barbara Ehrenreich, December 6, 2009, Washington Post: “We all like to imagine that there’ll be something to stop our fall if we hit hard times. Mulugeta Yimer, for example, is a 56-year-old Alexandria cabdriver who escaped poverty and persecution in Ethiopia 20 years ago only to be clobbered by the recession. Business is way down, and he’s facing possible foreclosure on his home. He says he is averse to government handouts, but when he contemplates what might be in store for his wife, who works part-time at a convenience store, and their two young children, he muses wistfully, ‘There’s always welfare, isn’t there?’ Actually, no. When President Bill Clinton signed welfare reform into law, he didn’t just end welfare as we knew it. For all practical purposes, it turned out, he brought an end to cash help of any kind for families with children in much of the country. While welfare reform was long ago declared a success in some quarters, it was deeply flawed from the beginning. The recession has shown how seriously unprepared it left us for hard times…”

Job training by D.C. welfare program is criticized, By Henri E. Cauvin, November 12, 2009, Washington Post: “At a time when unemployment is hitting the District hard, a new review of the city’s welfare program has found that it is pushing recipients to work but is not providing the skills and support they need to land decent-paying jobs. The study of the District’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program concluded that although the city has opportunities for substantive educational and vocational training, TANF recipients are too often kept in the dark about such help…”

Aid program will demand more, By Lynn Bonner, October 23, 2009, News and Observer: “The state’s 15-year-old welfare program, Work First, will begin living up to its name this year by requiring adult recipients to work, go to school, or job hunt before they get their monthly benefits checks. A handful of counties already have a “pay after performance” rule. The state Department of Health and Human Services made the pay rule a statewide policy this month, though it sent out payments as usual a few weeks ago to give the 8,900 households that have to live by the new policy a month to adapt to the change. Adults in this group have agreements with their counties that say they will work, look for work or attend classes for a set amount of time each month. In the past, recipients got their money whether or not they stuck to the plan. In November, payments won’t be automatic anymore, and social workers will expect recipients to show that they’ve complied, or have a good reason for not following through, before they get their money. The state made the change because it falls short of federal goals for getting welfare recipients working or on a steady path toward getting jobs…”

California’s zigzag on welfare rules worries experts, By Erik Eckholm, October 6, 2009, New York Times: “As he pressed state lawmakers over the summer to close a record budget deficit, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger lathered scorn on the state’s welfare-to-work program. He called it too lenient on the work requirement and overly generous in its benefits. At one point, he proposed eliminating it, then compromised to make it tougher. So Anna Zendejas, a welfare recipient in a farm town 50 miles west of here, was more than a little surprised to get a letter recently saying that she did not need to work to collect her check - in effect, a return to the much-derided welfare approach that existed before a national overhaul in the 1990s. It was no fluke. This fall, tens of thousands of Californians will be given a similar choice as the state embraces a startling reversal in some of its welfare policies for the next two years…”

L.A. County may spend money to try to save money on welfare, By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, September 20, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “With the cost of helping Los Angeles County’s welfare recipients expected to hit $1 billion by the end of this fiscal year, county officials are pushing a plan to shift the burden of some of the most hard-core unemployed to the federal government. If they succeed, local taxpayers could save tens of millions of dollars, and thousands of disabled welfare recipients would see their aid more than triple. But the hurdles could prove high. County officials propose spending $7.2 million to help applicants through a notoriously difficult process to qualify for federal disability assistance. The question remains: Does it make sense for the county to gamble millions now with massive state budget cuts looming?…”

• Proposed cuts to Mich. budget hurts poor, By Karen Bouffard, August 6, 2009, Detroit News: “Services for the poor would be decimated under cuts proposed to close Michigan’s $1.8 billion budget hole, according to more than two dozen groups who asked Lansing lawmakers Wednesday to protect vulnerable people from shouldering the state’s economic woes. The coalition of faith-based and human services organizations — from the Food Bank Council of Michigan to the Association of United Ways and the Michigan Catholic Conference — said disproportionate cuts to the state departments of Human Services and Community Health would obliterate the social safety net at a time when unemployment in the state has spiked to 15.2 percent…”
• Welfare to work program is latest budget victim, By Susan Haigh (AP), August 9, 2009, Hartford Courant: “A 13-year-old initiative that helps needy people move from welfare to work is the latest victim of Connecticut’s budget impasse. Programs ranging from on-the-job training to child care stopped as of July 1 for thousands of people - mostly women - who receive Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, a state cash assistance program that can last 21 months. The July and August executive orders, issued by Gov. M. Jodi Rell to run the state without a permanent two-year budget in place, slashed funding for the Jobs First program, leaving just enough money to cover some staff at the state Department of Labor.

• State cuts to health, welfare programs inflict pain, By Barbara Anderson and E.J. Schultz, August 3, 2009, Fresno Bee: “What will $3.3 billion in cuts to state health and welfare programs mean for the Valley? Children will lose health insurance. Fragile mental health programs will take another hit. Counties will have less money to investigate child abuse and pay foster homes. The list goes on. In the Valley — where poverty rates hover near 20% — the cuts will take a serious toll, said one economist. ‘The ripple effect is enormous,’ said Joseph Penbera, who teaches at California State University, Fresno…”
• Welfare-to-work program takes hit, By Brian Charles, August 3, 2009, The Signal: “California’s program to get people off the welfare rolls and into the work place has been largely gutted by the recently passed state budget, officials said Monday. ‘CalWorks’ - short for California Work Opportunities and Responsibility to Kids program - was launched in California in the mid-1990s in response to federal welfare reform legislation…”

• Budget to reshape the Golden State, By Mitchell Landsberg, July 22, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “Students and the poor will notice the biggest changes from downscaling of the government.  Roads will be rougher, classrooms fuller and textbooks more tattered. The odds of encountering someone fresh out of prison will almost certainly be higher.  If the budget deal crafted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and top legislative leaders is passed by the Legislature and survives the inevitable court challenges, California will undergo perhaps the biggest downscaling of government in its history…”
• Cities vow to fight ‘reckless’ state budget proposal in court, By Denis C. Theriault and Ken McLaughlin, July 21, 2009, San Jose Mercury News: “The deal to balance California’s budget by relying heavily on a plan to transfer $4.4 billion in local tax revenue to Sacramento had cities and counties across the state crying foul Tuesday.  As more details emerged about the tax take-away — twice as large as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had initially sought — leaders from already-struggling South Bay cities were left facing a new round of budget cuts far steeper than most had anticipated…”
• California budget deal to sting schools and poor, By Sally Connell, July 21, 2009, San Luis Obispo Tribune: “Cuesta College students may see the cost for each unit they take increase from $20 to $26.  Public school officials are expecting that $6 billion in cuts statewide will translate into local school districts being unable to hire back employees who received layoff notices.  And the county’s working poor on welfare will see money cut for child care and for buying equipment and clothing they could use at a new job…”

• State plugs budget hole with Medicaid money, By Beth Musgrave, July 21, 2009, Lexington Herald-Leader: “The state was in the black for the fiscal year that ended June 30, but only because it received a loan from the Medicaid program, which had additional money from the federal stimulus program. Now state officials are trying to determine how much money state agencies will have to cut from this year’s budget, which began July 1…”
• CalWORKS: Is it costing too much?, By Steve Wiegand, July 19, 2009, Sacramento Bee: “It’s the kind of statistic that makes radio talk show hosts drool: California is home to about 12 percent of all Americans – and more than 30 percent of all Americans on welfare. Critics of the state’s welfare program, called CalWORKs, say it’s clear proof that the system is flabby and overly beneficent, particularly as compared to other states…”
• Governor, legislative leaders begin building support for their budget pact, By Evan Halper and Shane Goldmacher, July 21, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders will begin working today to line up votes for the budget agreement they reached Monday evening to close a $26.3-billion deficit and allow the state to begin paying all of its bills again…”
• Budget breakthrough solves California’s long fiscal nightmare, By Steven Harmon, July 20, 2009, Contra Costa Times: “A tense, months-long standoff over ever-shrinking resources gave way Monday to a deal to bridge California’s $26.3 billion deficit…”

• Stagnant welfare caseloads create puzzle, By Ron Jenkins (AP), July 11, 2009, Tulsa World: “Anti-poverty workers say it is a puzzle that more people have not applied for welfare assistance in the midst of the current economic downturn.  They also cite statistics over the last five years showing declines in public assistance caseloads and a corresponding increase in the percentage of Oklahoma applicants denied aid…”
• California budget woes worry some on welfare, By Kelley Weiss, July 14, 2009, National Public Radio: “California lawmakers say they are near a solution to close the state’s $26 billion budget gap. That solution is likely to include unprecedented cuts to health and welfare programs. For California families who rely on multiple state services, those cuts could be a double or triple whammy…”

• Schwarzenegger’s welfare cuts angers Dems, By Judy Lin, July 8, 2009, San Francisco Chronicle: “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s insistence on cost-cutting measures to weed out what he has described as “waste, fraud and abuse” in California’s social service programs has struck a nerve with Democrats, welfare advocates and the frail…”
• Welfare-to-work program a target for state budget cuts, By Timm Herdt, July 9, 2009, Ventura County Star: “Renewing his insistence that policy changes must be part of any agreement to balance California’s budget and stop the flow of IOUs, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday put the spotlight on the state’s welfare-to-work program, which he called ‘the most generous of all the states’…”
• Critics say Schwarzenegger scapegoating the poor for budget problems, By Steven Harmon, July 9, 2009, Fremont Argus: “On the stump, as he tries to sell his deficit-cutting plan to voters, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has tried to show a softer side toward those who will get hit hardest, often returning to a variation of a line he rolled out in an address to the Legislature in May: ‘I see the pain in their eyes and hear the fear in their voice’…”