rssGohmert: Let’s Give Welfare Recipients Land for Subsistence Farming
Wednesday, September 29, 2010 at 2:01 pm
- 15 Comments
Yesterday, speaking on the House floor, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) suggested an offensive, if creative, form of welfare reform. Via Media Matters’ Political Correction, the Congressman argued:
We have people on welfare and I know there’s some that just don’t wanna work, but there’s some that do. How ’bout if instead of the welfare, we give ‘em an alternative. We’ll give you so many acres that can provide land where you can live off of it, make a living and we’ll give you seed money to start, but you have to sign an agreement that you’ll never accept welfare again. How ’bout that? We got plenty of land.
Here’s the video:
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families — the program the term “welfare” most often refers to — provides funds to help very low-income households pay for food, utilities, rent and other necessities. (Children are major beneficiaries of the program, something welfare critics always seem to forget.) To receive the benefit, which lasts for a maximum of five years in an individual’s lifetime, recipients need to be working or looking for work, with few exceptions. The federal government requires that 50 percent of recipients (90 percent in two-parent families) work.
There are holes and failures and exceptions, of course. TANF is a complicated program, and not a perfect one. But it does help thousands of people become self-sufficient and economically productive to boot. More importantly, it helps make sure that kids remain with their parents, in safe environments, with their most basic needs met.
But apparently Gohmert would prefer that all of those children would be moved from their communities, with their parents, to subsistence-farm. Charming.
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15 Comments
Pingback posted September 29, 2010 @ 2:39 pm
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Comment posted September 29, 2010 @ 6:28 pm
Is this a**hole for real?
First, “terror babies,” now this?
If this is the best Texas can send to D.C., maybe they OUGHT to secede. The United States would be better off.
Comment posted September 30, 2010 @ 8:20 am
If this is the best Texas can send to D.C., maybe they OUGHT to secede. The United States would be better off
Comment posted September 30, 2010 @ 11:08 pm
I don't know what he means by seed money – $1000, $10,000… who knows… BUT, maybe it's just me…
If he's saying that i could get a house (even if a bit raggedy) and some land and some money… COUNT ME IN. Instead, i'm homeless, hopping in and out of medical treatment facilities and halfway houses… I'd kill to just be able to live my damn life, in my own damn home. And i have a green thumb and i love animals, so YES GIVE ME A FARM PLEASE.
On the other hand, if he's suggesting giving out the land and the money, minus the home or some clever financing routine for one to be built, i suppose it's still a Good Deal, just not as much. I'd rather be given 10 acres, sell half, and live in a god-damn shed than live this shitty excuse for a life that i am now.
I suppose i ought to put in some background. I'm unable to work due to epilepsy and autism. I'm getting what therapy i can afford and the financial help to pay for said therapy, as well as about $200 a month to make do. Homeless. SSI keeps telling me i'm not disabled, and that i should do a “simple, non-skilled” type of job. I'm an epileptic autistic with social anxiety issues… A homeless agoraphobe ! The irony ! But i digress… The point i'm trying to make is that try as i may, i just cannot get the help i need through today's welfare system. Admittedly, in my case it has more to do with poor education and experience regarding mental illness than anything else. On the other hand, If there were an alternative to all the hubbub (read bullshit) that is mastering the welfare system while clearly incapable of doing so, i will go for it. Particularly if such a procedure fulfilled 2/3 of my life's dream. Hell yes, my life would turn around.
Sorry for the rant.
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Comment posted October 5, 2010 @ 2:54 pm
reform is long over due. It has created a society of lazy, non working, recipients who NOW expect it. As many other programs it's keeping lawyers busy. I'm sorry get your butt to work or don't recieve the benefits. You pro welfare people in the gov't better remember it's MY money your wasting…
Comment posted October 5, 2010 @ 2:57 pm
good idea as long as you get a house????? What the hell. If you cant work how can you take care of a house? does that make sense to you? Anything free you can take care of anything you have to work for your mentally ill?
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Comment posted October 10, 2010 @ 1:43 pm
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Pingback posted October 18, 2010 @ 5:15 am
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