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http://www.dailykos.com/
If you needed any more proof that the guiding force for Republicans is opposing anything and everything the Obama administration does, look no further than the fact that they're raising holy hell because they are getting more flexibility in running welfare programs.
The Department of Health and Human Services said last week that it would allow states to get waivers from the work requirements under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program to let the states "test alternative and innovative strategies, policies, and procedures that are designed to improve employment outcomes for needy families."
Cue the hypocritical Republican outrage.
"It's absolutely a terrible step in the wrong direction," said Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) on "Fox News Sunday." Asked whether his view contradicts the conservative mantra that states know better than Washington bureaucrats how to govern, he changed the topic to Medicaid and bashed Obama's "entitlement mentality." Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) agreed with Branstad, declaring, "We don't want people to stay on welfare, we want them to get back to work."Again, this is a completely voluntary new rule. States can apply for the waivers in order to escape the dictates of the federal law or not. They get to decide how they run the work part of welfare-to-work. If they want to. So of course, Republicans start screeching about wanting the federal government to dictate policy to them. Either they just want to bitch about President Obama's administration, regardless of what it's doing, or they don't want poor people anywhere, in any state, to have more options in the welfare work requirements. More likely, both.
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