Michigan Welfare Cuts Will Be Cruel to Kids

As the nation's economic woes persist, state leaders are taking draconian measures in the name of saving money. Last week in Michigan, for example, Gov. Rick Snyder signed a bill giving families welfare subsidies for only 48 months, beginning Oct. 1. 

The measure is retroactive. That means if residents are at the end of their two years by that date, they will fall off the rolls and will need to find employment. Detroit Free Press columnist Rochelle Riley argues that while benefits should be limited, children will suffer the most at a time when state unemployment just catapulted to 10.5 percent.

What state leaders said to some 12,000 families was that some of them might be starving or homeless by Christmas. What they told the children in those families is, whether your parents find a job or not, we're no longer helping.

A spokeswoman for Sen. Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, told reporters: "We think that 48 months is an adequate amount of time for people to find employment."

In what economy? And the state didn't give some of them 48 months.

This is like telling cancer patients, "Sorry about your disease, but you have three months to cure it before we won't care anymore."

Riley goes on to contend that providing an atmosphere for job creation should be paramount on the state's agenda because Michigan's economic turnaround is not occurring fast enough to push unemployment below double digits.

Read Rochelle Riley's complete column at the Detroit Free Press.

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