Legislators override Nixon’s Welfare Reform veto
May 6, 2015
Charlea Mills
Governor Nixon announced last Wednesday that he was officially vetoing Senate Bill 24, the Welfare Reform Act sponsored by Senator David Sater, R-Cassville. Yesterday, Tuesday, May 5, the House voted to override the veto with a 113-42 majority. The Senate voted to veto on Monday with a 25-9 majority.
Gov. Nixon released a statement last week saying, “I don’t sign bills that hurt kids - period.” Nixon said that the Welfare Reform Bill could impact an estimated 9,600 by making welfare benefits more difficult to obtain.
The Welfare Reform bill, sponsored by Sater, is aimed at altering the work requirements for families applying for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Work requirements imposed by the override will require welfare recipients to participate in work as defined by the 1996 Welfare Reform Act. The Welfare Reform Act stated work is unsubsidized employment, job searches and community service. Sater’s office released data that says that less than 15 percent of Missouri welfare recipients are engaged in work activities.
Sen. Sater stated, “I want to thank my colleagues in both the Senate and the House for voting to override the governor’s veto.”
Sater also said, “SB 24 will give our families the structure and tools they need to succeed by emphasizing work and personal engagement.”
Sater’s bill will take savings from welfare programs and apply them to provide child care assistance for parents, education assistance, transportation assistants and job training for individuals receiving welfare benefits. The bill also imposes a lifetime limit for TANF recipients at 45 months over their lifetime.
Nixon criticized the bill, saying, “Children already suffer lifelong consequences from poverty; penalizing them further for their parents’ behavior is mean-spirited and just plain wrong. When it comes to adults, we can all agree on the need for personal responsibility, but these are children.”
According to Nixon, approximately 6,465 children will be cut off of benefits on January 1, 2016, with approximately 40 percent of those under the age of five.
Sater issued a statement responding to Nixon’s veto, saying, “Governor Nixon’s concern that the new lifetime limits for welfare will hurt Missouri families is misplaced. Twelve states have lifetime limits below 60 months and Connecticut has the lowest limit in the country at 21 months; a full two years lower than the limit passed in SB 24. Missouri is not the first state to go in this direction and we are unique in that we are reinvesting the money we save into resources such as child care, education and transportation assistance and job training for families in need.”
Sater went on, “Maybe the problem is the welfare system itself and the answer is emphasizing work. SB 24 is all about the principles our country was founded upon, hard work and personal responsibility.”
State Representative Scott Fitzpatrick stated, “I want to commend Senator Sater for his work on welfare reform, and I was proud to vote to override the governor’s veto of the bill. Because of this bill, we have taken a welfare program that is currently functioning as a handout and are turning it into a hand up.”
Both the Senate and House of Representatives passed SB 24 with veto-proof numbers in April, so the override was not surprising.
Sater said, “In the 50 years since we declared the War on Poverty, we have spent trillions of dollars and created over a hundred different welfare programs, yet we are no closer to eliminating poverty now than we were in 1964. Lawmakers have too often thrown money at the problem and grown government. It is obvious that has not helped people become independent and self-sufficient.”
He continued, “The evidence overwhelming shows that Americans and Missourians believe work is the answer to poverty. Our current system unnecessarily traps people in welfare dependency and makes it difficult to get off welfare and back to work. SB 24 will turn this program around by providing the structure and tools our families need to become self-sufficient.”
The majority of items in SB 24 will go into effect on January 1, 2016.
Charlea Mills
Governor Nixon announced last Wednesday that he was officially vetoing Senate Bill 24, the Welfare Reform Act sponsored by Senator David Sater, R-Cassville. Yesterday, Tuesday, May 5, the House voted to override the veto with a 113-42 majority. The Senate voted to veto on Monday with a 25-9 majority.
Gov. Nixon released a statement last week saying, “I don’t sign bills that hurt kids - period.” Nixon said that the Welfare Reform Bill could impact an estimated 9,600 by making welfare benefits more difficult to obtain.
The Welfare Reform bill, sponsored by Sater, is aimed at altering the work requirements for families applying for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Work requirements imposed by the override will require welfare recipients to participate in work as defined by the 1996 Welfare Reform Act. The Welfare Reform Act stated work is unsubsidized employment, job searches and community service. Sater’s office released data that says that less than 15 percent of Missouri welfare recipients are engaged in work activities.
Sen. Sater stated, “I want to thank my colleagues in both the Senate and the House for voting to override the governor’s veto.”
Sater also said, “SB 24 will give our families the structure and tools they need to succeed by emphasizing work and personal engagement.”
Sater’s bill will take savings from welfare programs and apply them to provide child care assistance for parents, education assistance, transportation assistants and job training for individuals receiving welfare benefits. The bill also imposes a lifetime limit for TANF recipients at 45 months over their lifetime.
Nixon criticized the bill, saying, “Children already suffer lifelong consequences from poverty; penalizing them further for their parents’ behavior is mean-spirited and just plain wrong. When it comes to adults, we can all agree on the need for personal responsibility, but these are children.”
According to Nixon, approximately 6,465 children will be cut off of benefits on January 1, 2016, with approximately 40 percent of those under the age of five.
Sater issued a statement responding to Nixon’s veto, saying, “Governor Nixon’s concern that the new lifetime limits for welfare will hurt Missouri families is misplaced. Twelve states have lifetime limits below 60 months and Connecticut has the lowest limit in the country at 21 months; a full two years lower than the limit passed in SB 24. Missouri is not the first state to go in this direction and we are unique in that we are reinvesting the money we save into resources such as child care, education and transportation assistance and job training for families in need.”
Sater went on, “Maybe the problem is the welfare system itself and the answer is emphasizing work. SB 24 is all about the principles our country was founded upon, hard work and personal responsibility.”
State Representative Scott Fitzpatrick stated, “I want to commend Senator Sater for his work on welfare reform, and I was proud to vote to override the governor’s veto of the bill. Because of this bill, we have taken a welfare program that is currently functioning as a handout and are turning it into a hand up.”
Both the Senate and House of Representatives passed SB 24 with veto-proof numbers in April, so the override was not surprising.
Sater said, “In the 50 years since we declared the War on Poverty, we have spent trillions of dollars and created over a hundred different welfare programs, yet we are no closer to eliminating poverty now than we were in 1964. Lawmakers have too often thrown money at the problem and grown government. It is obvious that has not helped people become independent and self-sufficient.”
He continued, “The evidence overwhelming shows that Americans and Missourians believe work is the answer to poverty. Our current system unnecessarily traps people in welfare dependency and makes it difficult to get off welfare and back to work. SB 24 will turn this program around by providing the structure and tools our families need to become self-sufficient.”
The majority of items in SB 24 will go into effect on January 1, 2016.
