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Proposed Welfare Drug Testing Bill Tells Poor to Sign Away Rights
by Seth Freed Wessler on March 5 2013, 1:09PM
A week after a federal appeals court ruled against a Florida law that required welfare recipients to pass a drug test, a Republican congressman reintroduced similar legislation at the federal level. The bill, introduced by Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn), would…
Topics: /NOW
Texas Governor Wants Welfare, Unemployment Applicants To Pee In A Cup
by Seth Freed Wessler on November 16 2012, 8:37AM
Texas is poised to join the drug-testing bandwagon.
Romney Enlists Gingrich on Welfare-Bashing Kick
by Seth Freed Wessler on August 8 2012, 5:25PM
Romney has positioned welfare as his newest line of attack, bringing his former primary rival on to serve as head assault dog.
Georgia’s Political Cudgel Against the Poor: Drug Testing
by Seth Freed Wessler on July 10 2012, 9:49AM
Georgia followed Florida’s example in forcing safety-net recipients to get drug tests, despite the fact that neither law is likely to stand up in court. Why? Because actual policymaking was never the point.
Topics: Drug Tests, Economy, Politics
Why Tea Party Lawmakers Are Trying to Conflate Poverty and Drug Addiction
by Seth Freed Wessler on May 7 2012, 10:07AM
Since 2010, a new meme has spread to dozens of states: Drug testing people who apply for safety net benefits. The goal is to change economic debates into a culture war over who does and does not deserve help.
Topics: ALEC, Drug Tests, Economy, Jobs Crisis, Politics
Welfare Reform Turns 15, But Here’s Why No One’s Celebrating
by Julianne Hing on August 24 2011, 6:56PM
In 1996 seven in ten families living in poverty received cash assistance. Today, that number’s down to only three in ten.
Topics: Economy
Job Creation Under TANF Emergency Fund Threatened in Welfare Budget
by Michelle Chen on August 31 2010, 4:02PM
A unique welfare program is creating a surprising number of new paychecks, but it may soon fade away without renewed support from Congress.
Schwarzenegger’s Budget: Let Them Eat Cake
by Seth Freed Wessler on May 17 2010, 9:55AM
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday outlined his 2011 budget, offering no less than the promise of total desperation for low income families. The budget eliminates the state’s welfare-to-work program and cuts subsidized child care beyond preschool. Eliminating CalWorks, the…
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Why Would You Sell Your Food Stamps? [VIDEO]
by Debayani Kar on February 23 2010, 9:51AM
ARC researcher and ColorLines journalist Seth Wessler joined Carmen Cordero of Vecinos Unidos, Irasema Garza of Legal Momentum, and Wanda Fossett of Community Voices Heard on GRITtv to discuss food stamps, poverty and why this might be the best…
Topics: Race and Recession
Welfare Recipients Forced to Sell Food Stamps to Buy Basic Necessities
by Debayani Kar on February 19 2010, 7:16AM
ARC researcher and ColorLines journalist Seth Wessler joined Luz Santana of Vecinos Unidos on Democracy Now! this morning to discuss how people, especially women and mothers, are making ends meet through the recession. Seth profiled the work and experience…
Topics: Race and Recession
SC Lt. Gov. Bauer: Free School Lunches Encourage ‘Stray Animals’ to ‘Breed’
by Channing Kennedy on January 23 2010, 9:54PM
image / Associated Press. That’s Bauer in the purple. At a recent town hall meeting, South Carolina’s Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer criticized the children of poor families, using an impressively dehumanizing metaphor and flunking basic causality in the process….
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New Push to Encourage Parents to Adopt Black Children [VIDEO]
by Guest Columnist on September 18 2009, 10:46AM
by Todd Johnson; originally published at TheGrio.com. Jordan Sarazin was in foster care just five months after she was born. But in 2006, everything changed. She was adopted by Magalie Jean-Gilles, who has spent nearly a decade caring for dozens…
Topics: Video & Multimedia
by Michelle Chen on September 1 2009, 7:51PM
One reason the government has spent nearly half a century fighting, and losing, the war on poverty, is that it doesn’t know where to draw the battle line. The Center for American Progress recently analyzed the inadequacy of the…
Topics: Economy
Addressing Poverty When Poverty Isn’t Cool
by Channing Kennedy on August 31 2009, 11:44AM
When the recession is ‘over’ and poverty once again loses its place in our national narrative, what will become of the movement for real addressing of systemic inequities? In the wake of Obama’s absence from New Orleans during Katrina’s…
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The Record-Breaking Great Recession: Food Stamps Edition
by Julianne Hing on August 25 2009, 4:18PM
Click detail to see full image. We all know the job cuts and housing losses in this recession keep reaching new and scarier heights. But check out the numbers of people receiving food stamps these days, via a new…
Topics: Health
Schwarzenegger’s Blockbuster Budget Cuts Terminate the Safety Net [VIDEO]
by Channing Kennedy on August 13 2009, 9:37AM
When financial crisis hit, the California legislature didn’t raise taxes, end tax giveaways, or cut corporate welfare. Instead, they cut services to the people made most vulnerable by the recession — children, the elderly, the sick, victims of domestic…
Topics: Economy, Politics, Schools & Youth, Video & Multimedia
Out of Wedlock: Queerness, Color and the Politics of Marriage
by Michelle Chen on August 11 2009, 11:47PM
When Washington declared war on “welfare as we know it” in the 1990s, it also embarked on a battle to save an age-old institution. Lawmakers coupled efforts to shrink public assistance with a campaign to promote marriage, in hopes…
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