When Barack Obama said he wanted to “spread the wealth around,” he meant it. A new study from Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation estimates that Obama’s policies would spend $10.3 trillion on welfare programs over the next decade.
Obama started increasing welfare spending immediately after assuming office. The stimulus bill included $220 billion in new means-tested spending, including a little-noticed provision that repealed one of the key welfare reforms of the Clinton era. The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act capped welfare dollars to states, ending the perverse system that rewarded states for adding cases to their welfare rolls. The 2009 stimulus bill lifted the caps. Once again, states that add to their rolls qualify for more cash.
President Clinton said his legislation would “end welfare as we know it.” If Rector’s estimates are correct, Obama will spend twice as much on welfare as Clinton did. He is off to an incredible start. His $88.2 billion increase in welfare spending in 2009 is twice as large as any other increase in history. By the end of next year, he will have increased welfare spending by $263 billion, which is two and a half times greater than any previous increase.
From chipping away at Clinton-era reforms to creating new forms of welfare for the middle class, Obama is pursuing a nakedly redistributionist and statist agenda. Giving an ever-growing chunk of the budget to welfare is a recipe for making sure there’s a lot less wealth to spread around.
No comments:
Post a Comment