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totallygeeked -> totallygeeked general -> This Is What Happened When Maine Forced Welfare Recipients To Work For Their Benefits
Post Info TOPIC: This Is What Happened When Maine Forced Welfare Recipients To Work For Their Benefits
lilyofcourse


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This Is What Happened When Maine Forced Welfare Recipients To Work For Their Benefits
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Maine finally took a bold step forward in welfare reform and it’s paying huge dividends.

Last year Maine passed a measure that would require recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as SNAP, to complete a certain number of work, volunteer, or job-training hours before being eligible for assistance.

Main Governor Paul LaPage passed the measure last year and the resulting drop in food-stamp enrollees has been dramatic.

At the close of 2014 approximately 12,000 individuals were enrolled in the state assistance program. Keep in mind that these individuals are adults who aren’t disabled and who don’t have children at home and who are claiming the food-stamp benefits because of a lack of financial resources.

After forcing these individuals to either work part-time for twenty hours each week, enroll in a vocational program, or volunteer for a minimum of twenty-four hours per month, the numbers showed a significant drop from 12,000 enrollees to just over 2,500.

Republicans in the state are calling it a major victory, while Democrats are infuriated and are calling for special measures to roll back some of the strict requirements.

However, even if the requirements lose some of their strictness, once an individual is removed from the Maine food-stamp program they cannot receive benefits from the program for three years.

This is a true victory for welfare reform, and, while opponents are continuing to push back, we can hope that other states will notice the effectiveness of Maine’s program.

Meanwhile, for all the naysayers who say that this program is unfairly targeting those in rural or extremely poor areas, let’s remind ourselves who this program is really affecting.

These individuals who were benefiting from the food-stamp law and who now can’t are able-bodied, capable adults. These aren’t people with physical or mental disabilities or raising growing children. These are regular Joes who don’t seem to want to get a job.

And while I will say that getting a job can be harder than it sounds, Maine’s program solves that difficulty beautifully. If individuals can’t get and hold a part-time job of twenty hours per week, they can qualify by enrolling in training program. If that doesn’t get them a job, they can still qualify by volunteering.

Do you see what Maine did there? They’re making people exhaust their possibilities for employment before giving them a handout. Finally a state government has hit upon a great way to reward people for trying to get jobs and to punish those who sit around feeding off the taxes of the rest of the country.

Now the struggle remains for the rest of the country to work to adopt similarly effective laws.



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lilyofcourse


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Good job Maine!

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Charley Harper
Blankie


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I'd like to see Massachusetts do this.



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Southern_Belle


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I bet 12,000 in my city alone are on food stamps and able bodied.

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ed11563


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YES !!!



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lilyofcourse


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Well. I lost mine. I was finally able to get disability and have now lost the food stamps.

Thankfully the boys still have Medicaid until they are 18 or graduate high school.

I can't understand being so lazy that you won't work for money to get food.

This is great. I want to see the step, stopping aide for illegals.

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Charley Harper
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Maine has a HUGE issue with welfare in general. They had to reign it in and they have done a good job so far. I would bet you a lot of those people are in a better place now since they were not only forced to work and/or go to school but were helped in finding that job and getting enrolled in school.

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Mellow Momma


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lilyofcourse wrote:

Well. I lost mine. I was finally able to get disability and have now lost the food stamps.

Thankfully the boys still have Medicaid until they are 18 or graduate high school.

I can't understand being so lazy that you won't work for money to get food.

This is great. I want to see the step, stopping aide for illegals.

 Anyone here illegally is not eligible for SNAP or any other kind of welfare. IF they have US citizen children, the children are eligible but the adults are not. 

Now, they may show falsified papers, etc. But plenty of people do that regardless of immigration status. People who are here illegally are not eligible for any type of welfare except emergency medical care. That's all. 

Again, I am sure people cheat and abuse the system. But don't say it like we willingly give illegals welfare. That's against the law. 



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Mellow Momma


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I know what to do_sometimes wrote:

Maine has a HUGE issue with welfare in general. They had to reign it in and they have done a good job so far. I would bet you a lot of those people are in a better place now since they were not only forced to work and/or go to school but were helped in finding that job and getting enrolled in school.

 This sounds like a winning program! I wish they would roll it out nationwide. And find a way to incorporate families who have been on it for generations. That would be nice too. 



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Mellow Momma wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:

Well. I lost mine. I was finally able to get disability and have now lost the food stamps.

Thankfully the boys still have Medicaid until they are 18 or graduate high school.

I can't understand being so lazy that you won't work for money to get food.

This is great. I want to see the step, stopping aide for illegals.

 Anyone here illegally is not eligible for SNAP or any other kind of welfare. IF they have US citizen children, the children are eligible but the adults are not. 

Now, they may show falsified papers, etc. But plenty of people do that regardless of immigration status. People who are here illegally are not eligible for any type of welfare except emergency medical care. That's all. 

Again, I am sure people cheat and abuse the system. But don't say it like we willingly give illegals welfare. That's against the law. 

 There is a ton of cheats, just because the law is written so illegals can't get the benefits, they still do.  In Mass they turn a blind eye to it.



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Mellow Momma


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I know what to do_sometimes wrote:
Mellow Momma wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:

Well. I lost mine. I was finally able to get disability and have now lost the food stamps.

Thankfully the boys still have Medicaid until they are 18 or graduate high school.

I can't understand being so lazy that you won't work for money to get food.

This is great. I want to see the step, stopping aide for illegals.

 Anyone here illegally is not eligible for SNAP or any other kind of welfare. IF they have US citizen children, the children are eligible but the adults are not. 

Now, they may show falsified papers, etc. But plenty of people do that regardless of immigration status. People who are here illegally are not eligible for any type of welfare except emergency medical care. That's all. 

Again, I am sure people cheat and abuse the system. But don't say it like we willingly give illegals welfare. That's against the law. 

 There is a ton of cheats, just because the law is written so illegals can't get the benefits, they still do.  In Mass they turn a blind eye to it.

 And I admitted as much. 

Legal immigrants who are not citizens can get it. Illegals cannot. 



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NAOW


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calling for special measures to roll back some of the strict requirements.

What is strict about 20 hours a week? 

These individuals who were benefiting from the food-stamp law and who now can’t are able-bodied, capable adults.

Why are capable, able bodied adults eligible for food stamps to begin with?



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Mellow Momma


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NAOW wrote:

calling for special measures to roll back some of the strict requirements.

What is strict about 20 hours a week? 

These individuals who were benefiting from the food-stamp law and who now can’t are able-bodied, capable adults.

Why are capable, able bodied adults eligible for food stamps to begin with?

 Low income



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NAOW


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Mellow Momma wrote:
NAOW wrote:

calling for special measures to roll back some of the strict requirements.

What is strict about 20 hours a week? 

These individuals who were benefiting from the food-stamp law and who now can’t are able-bodied, capable adults.

Why are capable, able bodied adults eligible for food stamps to begin with?

 Low income

So you can just quit your job and apply for benefits? I don't know why, but I didn't think it was that easy.



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Mellow Momma


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NAOW wrote:
Mellow Momma wrote:
NAOW wrote:

calling for special measures to roll back some of the strict requirements.

What is strict about 20 hours a week? 

These individuals who were benefiting from the food-stamp law and who now can’t are able-bodied, capable adults.

Why are capable, able bodied adults eligible for food stamps to begin with?

 Low income

So you can just quit your job and apply for benefits? I don't know why, but I didn't think it was that easy.

 You can't have any assets. They want to know how much your cars are worth and if you have retirement savings, etc. But if you are broke, then yes. It pretty much is as far as I know. 



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Nobody Just Nobody


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Mellow Momma wrote:
NAOW wrote:
Mellow Momma wrote:
NAOW wrote:

calling for special measures to roll back some of the strict requirements.

What is strict about 20 hours a week? 

These individuals who were benefiting from the food-stamp law and who now can’t are able-bodied, capable adults.

Why are capable, able bodied adults eligible for food stamps to begin with?

 Low income

So you can just quit your job and apply for benefits? I don't know why, but I didn't think it was that easy.

 You can't have any assets. They want to know how much your cars are worth and if you have retirement savings, etc. But if you are broke, then yes. It pretty much is as far as I know. 

 You have to be literally destitute these days.



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TrudyML


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Go Maine. After witnessing that mess first hand I say yes! And MA needs to follow suit. MA is a mess.

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