Arizona to eliminate public assistance for poor families

Published April 10, 2009 @ 11:00AM PT

Arizona, like so many states, has crippling budget deficits right now. Legislators' solution to closing a $3 Billion gap? Slashing a mere $100 Million in aid for poor families, which will trigger an additional $400 Million loss. If legislators do this, they will become the first state in the nation to lose federal funds for public assistance to needy households.

Honestly, this is just cruel.

First, all states but California spent less than 5% of their overall budgets on public assistance, and almost 2/3 spend less than 1% annually. Arizona is one of those states. Second, the Obama Administration has released an additional $5 Billion in cash aid for states to support poor families. In Arizona, this money goes to help

"low-income families with rent payments, utilities, job training and other services. The money is distributed directly by the DES and through local agencies, which use it to provide shelter to the homeless and aid domestic-violence victims."

Third, AZ is only required to pony up $127 Million to receive federal funds - by law, that's the same amount they spent in 1994.

But they can't even be bothered to come up with $$ that amounts to only 4% of the overall deficit - a measly sum that would actually trigger an additional four times that amount in assistance for the neediest households in the state.

Keep in mind, when you hear infuriating rhetoric like this from the state's (GOP) leaders:

"What we've turned into is folks continuing to think that everyone has the right to live off the backs of those who work for a living," said Pearce, R-Mesa, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. "Most taxpayers have had enough."

that these funds would help over 30,000 families with child care and supplementary cash payments, 9,000 victims of domestic violence and 10,000 homeless people. AZ's population is 6.5 Million. Are you one of those taxpayers who objects to helping the worst off who make up less than 1/10 of 1% of the population? Really?

I hope this is not a sign of things to come. We have the potential here to be adopting all the wrong models of fiscal "responsibility."

(Photo of Tucson, AZ mission charity collection by szlea)

Share this Post

Comments (3)

With rhetoric like this, clearly some people didn't learn anything from their history lessons about the Great Depression. Either that or their lacking the human qualities known as compassion and empathy.

No one "expects" to live off the backs of the working class or thinks they "have a right to live off of others' income". Who honestly EXPECTS to land in poverty? No one expects to end up in a lengthy period of unemployment, to unexpectedly lose a spouse, to become a victim of a crime like Domestic Violence, to face a sudden illness or disability, etc. - but everyone DOES have the right to LIVE despite any or all of the aforementioned even if living means SOMEONE, even the government has to step in and help with expenses or medical bills.

We're talking human rights here, not just budgets. I guess Mr. Pearce forgets that up in the NE corner of his state is the Native American Nation that has gone before the UN, at least once (and I'm thinking it's a lot more than that) because of the federal government's violation of their rights and of various treaties. Is something similar what this nation's poor are going to have to do in order to have human rights?

Posted by Danetta Amschler on 04/11/2009 @ 06:22PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
Reply to thread
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Danetta
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
a single mom with health problems shouldn't get help, but all those speculators get a billion-dollar bailout?? voters need to dump pearce asap!

Posted by anne mav on 04/13/2009 @ 06:44PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by anne
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
That's a big problem with Republican hypocrisy in general. Poor people, no matter what their exact personal situation aren't deserving of ANY help for ANY reason while corporations - no matter how speculative and flat our irresponsible their behavior has been to get THEM into trouble (and how well documented their irresponsibility and rampant speculation is) - MUST be bailed out, because helping THEM is "helping the nation by helping the economy" or some other similar platitude or partisan rhetoric. It doesn't matter that this results in spending nearly TRILLIONS on blatantly irresponsible corporations that CONTINUE to be irresponsible - even with the aid (bail out funds) while the money spent in total on individuals and families pails in comparison and everyone involved in receiving and spending those funds is regularly reviewed to ensure that they really SHOULD be receiving the funds or aid and are using the funds and/or aid correctly. Something is perversely wrong with this whole picture and it goes far beyond Arizona.

I've been thinking about something since I posted my first post too. Isn't what the AZ legislature is discussing eliminating a Federally mandated program or set of programs? If I'm right, how can they cut it? Even if not totally eliminating any programs, most federally mandated programs are required to be funded to certain minimums by the states - is AZ doing that with the planned cuts? Someone should check into this...

Posted by Danetta Amschler on 04/13/2009 @ 09:20PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Danetta
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply

Add a Comment

For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

Comment

Check Spelling

Email me when there are new posts to this thread
Comment Policy

Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the ideas covered in the posts. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; that contain ad hominem attacks; or that are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion.

Author

Leigh is a PhD candidate in urban planning at MIT, and a consultant on U.S. Gulf Coast recovery. She sits on the Board of the Allston-Brighton Community Development Corporation in Boston, and has worked with non-profits, foundations and local governments on policies and programs aimed at reducing urban poverty and inequality.