Further Welfare Reform Needed
By Commissioner Tom Pauken
It’s
amazing how much bad policy gets enacted in the name of the children.
For example, illegal immigrants and drug felons currently can collect
welfare checks in Texas, even though they are theoretically
prevented from doing so.
How does this happen? They collect welfare in the name of their children.
In
my time as a Texas Workforce Commissioner, issues have cropped up
directly or indirectly in the course of my duties that shout out for
reform. For example, fixing the loopholes that allow illegal immigrants
and drug felons to collect welfare benefits in Texas should be a part
of a reform legislative agenda in 2013.
By
law, illegal immigrants cannot collect Temporary Aid to Needy Families
(TANF). But a child born to illegal immigrants is a U.S. citizen.
Current law allows the parents to apply for welfare in the name of
their children and be in control of the money doled out by the
government.
Here’s
what’s really nuts about this policy. Normally, any adult TANF
recipient must participate in the state’s work program. The key word in
TANF is Temporary. That program is designed as a short-term bridge
to work.
However,
an illegal immigrant is ineligible for employment in the United States.
So illegal immigrants can get welfare for their kids and not
participate in our work programs. In fact, the time limits the
state applies to other recipients don’t even apply to those collecting
solely for their children.
Similarly,
people who commit drug felonies may receive cash on behalf of their
children, though they may not receive it for themselves. And, they are
free to spend it in any way they see fit. We don’t need
to be subsidizing drug addicts’ habits.
It’s
time to prohibit illegal immigrants from collecting welfare on behalf
of children, or at least put a time limit on it. Further, let’s prohibit
drug felons from collecting welfare on behalf of their children.
There are better ways to benefit needy children.
Another
nonsensical policy is one that prohibits drug testing for people on
unemployment insurance. In many jobs, it’s standard operating procedure
to require drug testing before hiring and at random intervals
thereafter. Someone abusing illegal drugs is a liability in the
workplace. Yet, a person can collect Unemployment Insurance even though
their drug habit makes it unlikely that they could re-enter their
profession.
There
is a common-sense solution to this problem. If a worker were laid off
from an industry or firm where drug-testing was commonplace, they should
have to take a drug test to continue to receive unemployment
benefits.
Public
benefits should be a temporary help to people actively trying to find
work. I’m glad to see that Senator Jane Nelson has filed Senate Bill 11,
which makes many needed changes – including time limits
– to the Texas TANF program. I would encourage lawmakers to consider
some of the taxpayer-friendly proposals above in addition to the
excellent ideas in that bill.
Another
form of welfare is the state’s contracting preferences for Historically
Underutilized Businesses or HUBs. (This is a euphemism for minority- or
woman-owned businesses.) Why should someone born in Sri
Lanka or Pakistan get state contracting preferences over a native Texan
who happened to be born as a white male of European descent? The state
should get the best deal, not give out corporate welfare on the basis of
ethnicity or gender.
Texas
has made substantial progress curbing abuses in welfare and creating a
culture that rewards work. Let’s apply these common-sense reforms to
those who are welfare beneficiaries so that our state continues
to encourage work and provides a level playing field for all Texans
seeking to do business with the state.
Tom Pauken is the Commissioner Representing Employers at the Texas Workforce Commission and author of
Bringing America Home. He is also the a former Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas.
######
from KBMT Channel 12 News:
This is something that should have been done from the get-go. Texas has got to clean up the welfare rows, unemployment abuse, and stop all the entitlements to illegals and foreigners. Texans FIRST!
ReplyDelete