Time to Take on the Welfare State
Ken McIntyre /
In New York, facing a $9 billion deficit, state legislators put welfare on the chopping block to head off a government shutdown. Lawmakers in New Jersey avert their own shutdown in a ninth-hour budget deal that manages to save $22 million for adults on welfare. Meanwhile, in budget-busting California, welfare recipients keep playing the casinos by withdrawing cash with their state-issued debit cards.
Trillions in welfare spending will drive America to bankruptcy unless Congress puts on the brakes and encourages able-bodied adults to seek work and act responsibly, rather than sink deeper into dependence on government. That’s the message of a new report by two of Heritage’s experts on the U.S. welfare system, Robert Rector and Katherine (Kiki) Bradley.