The Arizona Legislature has passed a law seeking to force anyone getting Medicaid to have a job…
Molly Mulebriar: THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN REDACTED. THE AUTHOR’S OBVIOUS LEFT WING BENT HAS BEEN NEUTRALIZED BY ELIMINATING (1) LEFTISTS ADJECTIVES, (2) HEART STRING EXAMPLES OF WELFARE RECIPIENTS BITCHING ABOUT UNFAIRNESS AND (3) ALL REFERENCES TO “FEDERAL MONEY” WHEN IN FACT IT’S LOCAL MONEY FORCIBLY TAKEN FROM AMERICAN WORKERS AND THEN RETURNED TO STATE BUREAUCRATS AS A PRE-CONDITIONED GIFT. INSTEAD, THE ARTICLE HAS BEEN CHANGED TO REFLECT AND PROMOTE OUR VIEWS. THE AUTHOR’S NAME HAS BEEN DELETED.
Facing $1 billion deficit, Arizona sharply limits welfare
By XXXXXXXXXXX
PHOENIX (AP) — Facing a $1 billion budget deficit, Arizona’s Legislature, on behalf of their constituents has reduced the lifetime limit for welfare recipients to the shortest window in the nation.
Families on welfare will now have their benefits cut off after just 12 months.
As a result, the Arizona Department of Economic Security will drop welfare recipients from the taxpayers funded welfare program when the budget year begins in July.
The funding cuts reflect a prevailing mood among the lawmakers in control in Arizona elected by a majority of voters, that welfare, Medicaid and other public assistance programs are crutches that keep people from getting back on their feet and achieving their potential.
“I tell my kids all the time that the decisions we make have rewards or consequences, and if I don’t ever let them face those consequences they can’t get back on the path to rewards,” Sen. Kelli Ward, -Lake Havasu City, said during debate on the budget. “As a society we are encouraging people at times to make poor decisions and then we reward them.”
Most states imposed a five-year limit on welfare benefits. Thirteen states limit it to two years or less, and Texas has a tiered time limit that can be as little as 12 months but allows children to continue to receive funding even after the parents have been cut, welfare policy analyst Liz Schott said.
“The reason they are on public assistance is because many of them are not working,” said Schott, a senior fellow at the Center of Budget and Policy Priorities, a non-partisan research organization.
Arizona’s Legislature cut the budgets of an array of programs to meet the governor’s no-tax-increase pledge. The bill that included the welfare cuts received overwhelming support from legislators.
The Legislature also passed a law seeking to force anyone getting Medicaid to have a job, and cutting off those benefits after five years. And leaders are suing their own state to block a centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s health care law, which expanded Medicaid to give more people free health insurance funded by their neighbors.
If they prevail, more than 300,000 Arizonans could lose their free coverage paid for by their fellow citizens.
Gov. Doug Ducey’s office called all these cuts necessary to protect taxpayers from turning over more of their paychecks to others via government bureaucrats., under threat of imprisonment
“The bipartisan, balanced budget passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor protects Arizona’s most vulnerable, the middle class working man, whose hard earned income has been subjected to government confiscation through threat of punishment. This will prohibit more confiscation of individual wealth from working men and women” said Daniel Scarpinato, governor’s office spokesman.
SEE ACTUAL (Liberal slanted view) ARTICLE HERE:
