Obama Guts Bill Clinton’s Welfare Reform With New HHS Rule

The Department of Health and Human Services will issue waivers for the federal work requirement to parents and caretakers.

The Department and Health and Human Services announced the agency will issue waivers for the federal work requirement of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program — considered a central facet of welfare reform in 1996 — Thursday.

The “Information Memorandum” states that the agency will be issuing waivers for TANF’s work participation requirements for parents and caretakers as a way to find new approaches to better employment outcomes.

“While the TANF work participation requirements are contained in section 407, section 402(a)(1)(A)(iii) requires that the state plan ‘[e]nsure that parents and caretakers receiving assistance under the program engage in work activities in accordance with section 407,’” the memo, signed by HHS Director of the Office of Family Assistance, Earl Johnson, explained. “Thus, HHS has authority to waive compliance with this 402 requirement and authorize a state to test approaches and methods other than those set forth in section 407, including definitions of work activities and engagement, specified limitations, verification procedures, and the calculation of participation rates.”

In other words, people on welfare don’t have to bother trying to find work, get job related training, or undergo drug/alcohol counseling as long as they continue to pop out babies they can’t or won’t support. They can sit on their fat behinds all day, and the payments, courtesy of working American taxpayers, will keep pouring in.

Unfortunately, I don’t see the Republicans opposing this in any meaningful way. Granted, they’ve bitched and moaned about how Democrats aren’t playing nicely with them, which is all they seem capable of doing. What they really need to do is come out and saying that Obama is purposely wrecking America’s economy by giving his supporters even more tax payer funded goodies (which these people see as what they’re rightfully owed forever). And let’s not forget Obama’s back door amnesties for illegals either.