On September 6, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder (R) signed into law a four-year lifetime limit on cash welfare benefits. Yep, that means exactly what you might think. Someone who qualifies for and receives welfare benefits has four years, and then they’re done. Now, here comes the really interesting part. Benefits will begin to be phased out on October 1. Yep, in a few weeks, people who have been receiving welfare benefits will be ineligible for any future cash welfare benefits.
Why, you ask? Well, in 2007, then-Governor Jennifer Granholm (D) signed a bill creating the four-year lifetime limit on welfare. That’s when the clock started ticking. Being a (D), she put all kinds of loopholes and exceptions in the law. Our Hero, Rick Snyder, fixed that with a stroke of his pen. Yes, there are still exceptions to this law, but they have been drastically tightened and are few and far between.
So! Forty-one thousand people, including twenty-nine thousand, seven hundred children, stand to be cut off from welfare benefits on October 1. Of course, this means more people will be cut off on October 2, October 3, and every day after that.
All hope is not lost, though. Welfare recipients are supposed to be connected with other resources, and given housing and job placement assistance through January.
Just know that, when February 1 comes, it’s vaya con Dios, baby, please enjoy the bracing, refreshing Michigan Winter.
Source: Yahoo News, Image via fotopedia.com.
