Bills Would Require Michiganders To Work For Welfare, Pass Drug Test

A bill has passed in the Michigan Senate that would require those receiving public assistance to do some “volunteer” work. Another bill, which passed the House Commerce Committee, requires drug testing, revoking benefits for welfare recipients who refuse the test or who test positive.

“What [the legislation] does, it says, in order for your to receive your cash assistance, your welfare check, you must provide some kind of community service to the community,” said the volunteer work bill’s sponsor, State Senator Joe Hune, who represents  Livingston and Shiawasse counties in Mid-Michigan.

Hune says he was inspired by a constituent who began to volunteer while on welfare — and that community service evolved into full employment.

“The whole intention is to make certain folks have some skin in the game, and I don’t feel that there’s any problem with making folks go out and do some kind of community service in order to receive their cash assistance,” Hune said. Read more >>

Mass. audit finds dead welfare recipients collecting millions of dollars

A state audit has revealed that Massachusetts has given out $18 million in “questionable public assistance benefits” in recent years, in cases that included the distribution of benefits to more than 1,160 people who were either dead or using the Social Security number of a deceased person. In some cases, recipients began receiving benefits for the first time after their deaths. The audit, issued Tuesday, covered cash, food stamps, and other benefits intended for low-income families, and found millions of dollars in irregular benefits and an urgent need for improved anti-fraud security.

In 1,164 cases, deceased recipients continued to receive a total of $2.39 million in benefits up to 27 months after they had been reported dead. The state Department of Transitional Assistance also paid out at least $368,000 benefits to 178 guardians who claimed deceased persons as dependents, and $164,000 to 40 individuals being claimed by more than one guardian.

Additionally, State Auditor Suzanne Bump found suspicious transitions on electronic benefit cards amounting to $15 million, including almost $5 million in  which all food benefits had been withdrawn at once. Meanwhile, five regional offices could not provide documentation for more than 30,000 EBT cards.  Read more >>

Record Number Of US Households On Foodstamps

ZeroHedge
Last month, when the USDA released the latest foodstamps numbers for the month of February, there was some hope that following a third month of declines, we may just have seen the peak of US foodstamp usage and going forward we would only see the number decline.

Sadly, the latest numbers refutes this: in March a total of 46,405,204 persons were at or below poverty level and thus eligible for foodstamps, a 79K increase in the month. Yet while many individuals have learned to game the system, and this numbers at the peak may fluctuate, when it comes to the far more comprehensive and difficult to fudge "households on foodstamps" number, there was no confusion: at 22,257,647, the number of US households receiving the "SNAP treatment" rose to an all time high, even as the benefit per household dropped to the second lowest ever.

At least all these impoverished believers in hope and change have FaceBook IPO profits to look forward to. Oh wait.

Unemployment Insurance Breaking Down

Unemployment offices are receiving record numbers of applications and phone calls. One story the media isn't covering is the sheer horror many out of work Americans feel when they try and contact and apply for unemployment insurance benefits. Sometimes months may pass by before some families begin to receive benefits. Many are confused with the inability to get through to offices by phone, and the closing down of physical locations by the state. What are the number that give up on unemployment and simply apply for welfare and food stamps?