GOP lawmakers try to stop welfare work requirement rewrite

WASHINGTON?Congressional Republicans on Wednesday introduced legislation to block the Obama administration?s recent decision to waive long-standing welfare work requirements.

Last week President Obama?s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a new policy directive easing the work mandate that was written into the landmark 1996 welfare reform law. That requirement states that welfare recipients must be employed or prove they?re looking for work as a condition for receiving aid.

But the HHS decision signaled to state agencies disbursing the funds that some of those requirements can now be bypassed. Conservative groups from The Heritage Foundation to Focus on the Family erupted in protest over the change, arguing that it would undermine the reform law that has moved 2.8 million families off of welfare rolls.

Before the 1996 reform law, individuals remained on welfare for an average of 13 years, creating a plague of government dependency for millions of Americans. Today the average is less than two years. But many fiscal conservatives fear that number may rise again in the aftermath of the Obama administration?s decision. ? COMPLETE STORY >>

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Source: http://online.worldmag.com/2012/07/19/gop-lawmakers-try-to-stop-welfare-work-requirement-rewrite/

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