Republicans, Officially Legislating Things that Haven’t Happened

Republicans are moving to prevent President Obama from making changes to welfare, which is just a way to provide Romney with a little ground after Obama received a bounce from the DNC and bully the President into following the rules.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, revealed resolutions on Monday that show disapproval with the DHHS recommendation that states should be able to obtain waivers to make changes to the welfare to work requirements. If it passed the Obama administration would be unable to grant these waivers.

The welfare work waivers have been an issue since July, when DHHS made its announcement via memo and the Romney camp jumped on it. There is a pretty awful ad featuring President Obama destroying welfare work requirements while propagating the myth that welfare recipients are lazy and unwilling to work. Of course these waivers are actually an attempt by the Obama administration to appease governors who have requested such waivers including at least two Republicans from Utah and Nevada.

Former president Clinton has come to Obama’s defense stating the Romney ad was wrong. Additionally, The Washington Post Fact Checker, Glenn Kessler, pointed out the ad is wrong because it asserts President Obama has already moved to “drop work requirements” which isn’t true because no waivers have been granted.

Naturally, GOP lawmakers are also upset that DHHS had the audacity to make a rule change without consulting Congress. The Government Accountability Office said that administration needed to seek congressional approval before making policy changes, which makes sense.

Of course instead of framing the argument as the Obama administration should consult Congress before making policy change, the GOP lawmakers are jumping on Obama is gutting welfare:

“With the stroke of a pen, the Obama Administration single-handedly undermined one of the central tents of bipartisan welfare reform, that work is the best path to self-sufficiency. Given GAO’s findings, it’s an indisputable fact that this administration should have submitted its unilateral changes to Congress. The way forward is to put a stop to this unprecedented power play, as this resolution does, and start over on a robust reform and reexamination of this program,” said Hatch.

Camp added to this by calling it “unfortunate, but not surprising” that the Obama administration would overreach and not withdraw the change. Camp then continues to talk up welfare reform and the work requirements as the save all for poor people.

The House and Senate have restrictive timetables for voting so it is unclear whether they will vote on this before the election. Democrats are calling foul on all of this because it is based in lies. Also, Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich), ranking member on the House Ways and Means Committee, pointed out that the root of these claims are pretty racist. Republicans are grasping at stereotypes that welfare recipients are lazy and if not required to work will not work, which isn’t what the evidence supports. But they’re not really the party of facts right now.