June 19, 2013

Politics

Welfare waiver supported by Romney would have increased work requirements for welfare

BY: CHARLIE SPIERING AUGUST 8, 2012 | 6:50 AM
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Former President Clinton, last night, released a statement in response to Mitt Romney’s latest ad accusing President Obama of “gutting welfare.”

In his statement, Clinton reiterates the point made by the Obama campaign – that Obama’s welfare waiver for states was similar to the one requested by Romney when he was governor of Massachusetts.

But as we point out in our editorial today, this response is misleading, as the act supported by Romney intended to increase work requirements.

Romney did sign a letter in 2005 supporting a Senate bill — the PRIDE Act — that would have granted the HHS secretary authority to issue waivers related to welfare programs. Also signing the letter were many of the most conservative Republican governors in America. The PRIDE Act would have actually toughened federal work requirements, raising the mandatory participation rates for recipients within each state from 50 percent to 70 percent.

The PRIDE Act was short-hand for the bill’s title: “Personal Responsibility and Individual Development for Everyone”and failed to pass after it was attacked by the left.

For more details about Obama’s welfare waiver, read today’s editorial.

 

 

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Author:

Charlie Spiering

Commentary Staff Writer
The Washington Examiner

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