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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (78272)	1/27/2010 9:02:54 AM
From: lorne	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224751

Welfare rolls up in '09; more enroll in assistance programs By Richard Wolf, USA TODAY usatoday.com WASHINGTON — Welfare rolls rose in 2009 for the first time in 15 years, but the 5% increase was dwarfed by spikes in the number of people receiving food stamps and unemployment insurance. The cash-assistance program that once helped more than 14 million people served an average of 4 million in the 2009 fiscal year, up from 3.8 million in fiscal 2008. By comparison, there were more than 37 million people receiving food stamps in September, an increase of 18% from the year before. The number receiving unemployment benefits more than doubled, to about 9.1 million. The disparity has caused some of those involved in passing the 1996 welfare overhaul to question whether it's failing to help victims of the recession. "Making the rolls decline got to be a badge of honor for states," says Ron Haskins of the Brookings Institution, who led the Republican staff on the House panel that wrote much of the law. "The evidence now is that it is not a very good safety net." FORECAST: Jobs may rebound in 2010 INDEX: Tracking the pulse of the economy In the past year, some states have seen increases of 15% or more in their welfare caseloads, including Florida, Ohio, Oregon and Washington. Others have continued to cut the rolls, including Texas, Indiana and Rhode Island, according to federal data. The purpose of the law, passed by a Republican-led Congress and signed by President Clinton, was to move millions of people from welfare to work. States shared $16.5 billion each year for cash aid as well as child care, transportation and job training. An additional $5 billion was added in last year's $787 billion economic stimulus law. Welfare administrators in New York, Florida and other states say the law has worked as intended, sending millions into the workforce. When the recession hit, several federal extensions of jobless benefits enabled hundreds of thousands to avoid returning to welfare. Russell Sykes, who directs the New York program and chairs the national association of state welfare administrators, predicts caseloads will rise again this year, particularly if jobless benefits decline. He says the formula-driven federal block grant, which has not changed since 1997, should be increased. "There are built-in provisions in the law that encourage states to reduce caseload. That was intentional," Sykes says. Now, he says, caseloads will rise as welfare "becomes a place of last resort." Florida's welfare rolls began growing in 2007, program administrator Don Winstead says. "Has the program done what it should do? Yes," he says. Advocates for a more lenient welfare system say tough work rules, time limits and penalties in many states are blocking needy people from qualifying. Benefit levels in some states are so low that many people don't apply. "They decide the program's not worth it," says Stephanie Goodman of the Health and Human Services Commission in Texas, where the average monthly benefit is $68 per person.