Misuse of welfare money is minimal, data show, By Madeleine Baran, March 15, 2011, Minnesota Public Radio: “Republican state lawmakers have proposed new restrictions to prevent poor people from spending welfare money on alcohol, tobacco and lottery tickets. However, the available data suggests misuse of welfare money is minimal. Instead, people who receive welfare said the legislation would make it impossible to use the money for basic needs, like paying rent and doing laundry. ‘It’s degrading enough, and now they want to degrade me even more, and that’s wrong,’ said Gigi Wright, a welfare recipient who would be affected by the changes. Republican lawmakers have authored several bills this session that would impose restrictions on the transaction card that welfare recipients use to access their monthly benefits. At a press conference in late January, lawmakers introduced the bills while standing next to a display of beer, cigarettes, and lottery tickets — items that aren’t supposed to be purchased using welfare money…”
Day: March 15, 2011
Exhaustion of Jobless Benefits – Colorado
Safety net for jobless rolls up after 99 weeks, By Greg Griffin, March 15, 2011, Denver Post: “Kelly Wiedemer alternates between hope and despair in her search for work, but as the months pass, she finds that pessimism prevails. The 45-year-old former business analyst has been unemployed since July 2008 and worries that she’ll never find a job that puts to use her college degree and more than 15 years of experience. Still, she said, she keeps looking and pursues every lead. Wiedemer’s unemployment benefits expired in April and resumed last month for a final six weeks. She’s been living off food stamps and the help of her mother, whose Westminster house she moved back into last June. ‘It’s a challenge just to buy dog food,’ she said, her 7-year-old bull terrier Kenda lying nearby. ‘My mom’s bootstraps are all that’s holding me up now.’ Wiedemer is among at least 13,000 Coloradans who are receiving six weeks of Tier IV federal unemployment benefits for those out of work at least 94 weeks…”