Gov. Paul LePage has imposed a number of restrictions on welfare recipients through the rulemaking process. Now he’s pushing a proposal that would cement those reforms into law, making it more difficult for future governors to change them.
Work requirements, photos on electronic benefit cards, a ban on allowing repeat felony drug offenders to get food stamps — these are just a few of the rules that have been put into place by the LePage administration. And LePage says he wants them to stay in place after he leaves office.
“They can also be reversed by the next governor. That is why it is so important to make these commonsense reforms permanent in state law. We want Mainers to keep moving from poverty to prosperity long after I am gone,” he says.
Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew says the reforms embraced by the bill have been successful and should be continued in the future, regardless of who is serving as governor.
“Under this legislation, if an individual does not comply with the requirement of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program related to work, they would also be ineligible for MaineCare. We have seen the success of this reform,” she says.
But low-income advocates say what the governor and commissioner call reforms have not improved the lives of the poor nor helped them to find decent jobs.
“During the period of these so-called reforms, Maine children have fallen into deep poverty at eight times the rate of kids in other states,” says Chris Hastedt with Maine Equal Justice Partners.
Hastedt points to objective measures as telling a different story.
“Maine people have become hungrier. Our indicators with respect to health status as a state have dropped dramatically,” she says.
LePage and the bill’s prime sponsor, Republican Rep. Ken Fredette of Newport, both stressed the need for Democratic support to pass the bill, but there were no Democrats present at the press conference.
Democratic House Speaker Sara Gideon from Freeport says Democrats have supported reforms aimed at fraud and abuse, but says LePage’s proposal fails to take steps to help Mainers get out of poverty. She says true reform would address some key issues.
“It’s got to create real opportunities for Maine families, it’s going to meet their basic needs, it’s going to break down barriers to work, it’s going to actually expand access to education for people who need it most to get to better-paying jobs,” she says.
At his press conference, LePage cited a conversation that he says he had with Gideon about the support Democrats had for welfare reform last year, and how it was based on polling that showed very strong support for his proposals.
“And I asked her point blank, ‘Have you had a change of heart last year when they gave us the ability, took the alcohol and cigarettes out, have you had a change of heart or have you looked at the polls?’ And she said, ‘We looked at the polls,’” he says.
But Gideon says that conversation never happened. She says she has made it clear that Democrats will only support real welfare reform.
“I am not making my policy decisions especially about human beings and their lives based on polling. I am making them on what is best for Maine people,” she says.
Many Democrats agree with Gideon, so the governor’s bill will likely face an uphill battle once it is sent to committee for consideration later in the session.
