Last Wednesday during the House debate, I posted that my Welfare Reform Amendment (Fattman, #41) passed the House of Representatives as part of the greater welfare reform bill. Many people have reached out, asking what exactly my amendment does and why its important. So, here you have it: Fattman Amendment #41 passed the legislature with bipartisan support, after negotiation with the Democrat Leadership. The amendment mandates that the Patrick Administration inventory all Welfare Programs in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Section 8 Housing, SNAP, EBT, LIHEAP, Etc, and analyze the efficacy of each program, defined as the success of moving beneficiaries out of poverty and into economic independence. Welfare programs exist as a social safety trampoline (as opposed to net/hammock) - temporary assistance to help those families and individuals who are in need by moving them into a more prosperous personal situation through “x” program. Massachusetts taxpayers deserve to know what their money is going to, and how well it is working. Currently, there are no statistics that define success in our welfare system. My amendment will require the Secretary of Administration and Finance to report back to the legislature by April 1, 2014 on how many people are enrolled in “X” welfare program, the average time spent on the program, the programs effectiveness of moving people off of the benefit toward independence, and the rate of recidivism occurring in each welfare program. My amendment also requires input by legislators, and a public hearing to be conducted by the Administration prior to January 1, 2014. It is my intention to hold a town meeting/ public hearing in my district to receive input from anyone who wishes to testify. While we hear a lot about abuse --something we know exists and must be eliminated-- we rarely hear about success stories that also exist. The success of welfare is fundamental to an opportunity society; a society based on economic dependency does not foster strong job growth, entrepreneurship and liberty. This amendment is designed to determine the success or failure rate of each welfare program, and to determine what is working and what is not. It also looks at the effects of extending the earned income tax credit, the child tax credit and the dependent tax credit (think children with down syndrome) to help the poor become prosperous. Where programs are not effective, they should be eliminated towards programs that are more successful. In order for elected officials to make informed decisions, we must have facts. This is designed to get those facts. I will post more about the overall bill next week. Ryan Fattman for State Representative
Posted on: Sat, 09 Nov 2013 22:14:09 +0000