WELFARE IN MAINE - MORE GROWTH THAN EMPLOYMENT THANKS TO OUR STATE GOVERNMENT

The latest multi-page document from the Maine Heritage Policy Center was issued today in Brewer. The 35-page report, entitled "Fix The System" is devoted to Maine's welfare dependency crisis. What follows is a brief synopsis of that report. In the following days and weeks, this blog will attempt to provide some of the critical information provided in the report, something every Mainer and voter should read before the November election.

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"Maine's welfare system undermines hard work and traps parents and children in poverty. We must fix the system to free families from dependency through hard work and accountability.

"That is the conclusion of MHPC's latest, 35-page report on Maine's welfare dependency crisis, released today at a press conference in Brewer.

"Fix the System: Freeing Maine Families from Welfare Dependency," is a detailed report examining the policies that have caused skyrocketing welfare enrollment and reforms to move people from welfare to work.

Among the report's findings:

Maine's Welfare System in Broken

During the Baldacci administration, the number of people trapped in Maine's welfare system skyrocketed.
Between 2003 and 2010, welfare system enrollment grew 70% (226,000 to 381,000)

Almost 1 in 3 Mainers are trapped in the welfare system.
29% of Maine's total population is on some form of welfare

Maine ranks second in the nation in the percent of its population on Food Stamps, second for TANF cash assistance, and second for Medicaid.

Maine's poverty rate is growing despite the welfare system's huge cost and size.

Between 2001 and 2007, the portion of Mainers living in poverty grew from 10.3% to 10.9%

Maine spent $2.506 billion on its welfare system alone; more than it spent on:

Attracting new jobs ($47.6 million)

K-12 public education ($2.499 billion)

In just a few short hours, this breaking report has already been covered by the Portland Press Herald, the Kennebec Journal, the Lewiston Sun Journal, and Capital Weekly.

The report lists a series of proven reforms policymakers should adopt to reduce Maine's welfare dependency crisis:

Fix the System

1. Focus aid on the truly needy.

2. Tighten income eligibility requirements

3. Eliminate handouts for drug felons and non-citizens

4. Define Success as a new paycheck, not more welfare checks.

5. Help people toward work and self-sufficiency first, with welfare as a last resort

6. Create real and enforceable work and job search requirements

7. Establish clear and firm timelines

Overhaul Maine's welfare bureaucracy

1. Rename Maine's welfare bureaucracy from Office of Integrated Access and Support
to
Maine EMPOWER (Employing and Moving People Off Welfare and Encourage Responsibility)

2. Simplify and streamline the system to show a clear path to self-sufficiency

3. Set Work and Self-Sufficiency Goals for recipients, and report total results to taxpayers each month

MHPC's report draws attention to a critical challenge facing our state. Maine's level of welfare system dependence has huge costs, both fiscal and moral, and must be reformed. MHPC will continue its research into this important issue, and continue to advocate for the responsible, compassionate reforms that will free Maine families from welfare dependency.