Justin's Political Corner

MMFA: On Fox and Friends, Regular Billo Sub Ingraham Suggests Obama Is Trying To Buy Votes With GOP-Led Welfare Change 

Fox’s Ingraham: Waiver Rule Change Is “A Push For Election Turnout” By The Obama Administration.On the July 24 edition of Fox & Friends, Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham reacted to reports that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will issue waivers to states to relax some of the work requirements in Temporary Assistance For Needy Families (TANF) by claiming the change was “a push for election turnout” by giving “more free stuff to people.” From Fox & Friends:

INGRAHAM: This is so tailor made for the Romney campaign, right? But let me tell you, what I think is going on in part is what we saw with the numbers coming out of Virginia over the last couple of weeks. Romney is doing better in Virginia. It’s a critical state for this election and the Washington Examiner yesterday wrote a piece about how the Obama campaign has to up the turnout in Virginia among certain demographic groups, including African-Americans. I think a lot of this ends up being a push for election turnout. Same thing. Give more free stuff to people and hope that they come to the polls. I think you’re seeing it with immigration, you’re seeing it with this. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 7/24/12]

But The Rule Change Was Reportedly Requested By GOP Governors

WSJ: 1996 Law Required States To Document Work By TANF Recipients. The Wall Street Journalreported that “[u]nder the 1996 law, states are required to document the number of hours that welfare recipients spend in paid jobs, voluntary work or other activities directly related to finding employment”:  

Under the 1996 law, states are required to document the number of hours that welfare recipients spend in paid jobs, voluntary work or other activities directly related to finding employment. States can lose federal funding for their welfare programs if they don’t meet targets for recipients’ participation in these activities. [The Wall Street Journal, 7/13/12]

WSJ: Utah And Nevada — Both Led By Republican Governors — Requested Waivers From Documentation Requirements.  The Wall Street Journal further reported that Utah and Nevada, both of which have Republican governors, asked for waivers from documentation requirements:

States have said that such rules are preventing them from running more-effective welfare programs, and the Obama administration said that two states, Utah and Nevada, had specifically asked for waivers from the requirements. Both states have Republican governors.

On Thursday, the Department of Health and Human Services sent states a letter saying they could get a federal waiver to those rules if they proposed better ways to help recipients find permanent, well-paid jobs. [The Wall Street Journal, 7/13/12]

Republican-Led Utah: States Need The Flexibility To Report Employment Outcomes, Rather Than Process.

Wash. Post: “A Group Of 29 Republican Governors” Argued “For State Welfare Waivers More Expansive” Than The Ones From HHS. In a July 19 Washington Post Wonkblog post, Dylan Matthews noted that, in 2005, 29 GOP governors requested TANF waivers “more expansive than those being issued by the Obama administration.”