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Jeb Bush on Welfare & Poverty
Republican FL Governor; V.P. prospect
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1994 Phoenix Project: end welfare culture
Bush's tough brand of conservatism also featured new restrictions for Florida's welfare recipients. In early 1994, Bush unveiled a welfare reform plan dubbed the "Phoenix Project."
The goal of the project, he later told the Miami Herald, was to "dismantle the welfare state and all the culture that comes from it."
Under the plan, Florida would refuse to accept federal funds to aid the state's poor families, and restrict benefits to just two years of assistance. To be eligible for benefits, poor women would be required to "identify the fathers of their children,
submit to random drug tests and work if jobs were available," according to a Herald story from March 1, 1994.
Bush's welfare plan was an early sign of the sharply conservative tone that would come to characterize his entire campaign.
Source: New York Times 2015 interview of 2016 presidential hopefuls
, Jan 11, 2015
If you're born poor, the odds are stacked against you
Bush threw cold water in the face of conservatives who espouse a strict up-by-the-bootstraps doctrine of individual responsibility, and who ascribe failure only to personal failure. Life, he said, is increasingly more difficult for those
who aren't born with built-in advantages. "It is not a validation of our conservative principles if we can only point to the increasingly rare individual who overcomes adversity and succeeds in America,"
Bush said. "Here's reality: if you're fortunate enough to count yourself among the privileged, much of the rest of the nation is drowning."In our country today, if you're born poor, if your parents didn't go to college,
if you don't know your father, if English isn't spoken at home, then the odds are stacked against you. You are more likely to stay poor today than at any other time since World War II," he said.
Source: 2013 Conservative Political Action Conf. in Huffington Post
, Mar 15, 2013
Proposed refusing federal money for welfare
Bush's campaign was described as 1 of fervently held ideas. "His appearances became revival meetings.and as he went from country club to country club telling stories about [welfare fraud] to his all-white audiences they would
shake their heads along with him, conjuring up their own image of what the lazy welfare mother looked like, and the color of her skin."
During his campaign Bush openly espoused a conservative "constrain the beast" philosophy toward government. He proposed to dismantle the State Department of Education and to refuse federal money for welfare.
He would have forced mothers and children off welfare after 2 years, with no provision for job training or child care beyond the small amount available at the time.
Source: Aggressive Conservatism in Florida, by Robert Crew, p. ÿ6
, Dec 11, 2009
Created Governor's Faith-Based Advisory Board
Governor Bush embraced with greater enthusiasm the use of religious organizations to take over activities traditionally provided by governmental agencies. Florida has a long history of working with religious based organizations to provide social services
to disadvantaged citizens.To pursue his strategy, Bush created in the Office of the Governor a Faith-Based Advisory Board designed to mobilize additional religious organizations and to encourage their participation in his efforts to make
nongovernmental organizations the primary mechanism for delivering public services in Florida. The board also provided direction to state agencies in their use of religious organizations in their work and technical assistance to the organizations in
securing grant funds from both the federal and state governments. Bush also required state agencies to create official positions--called faith-based liaisons--to help eliminate internal obstacles to the receipt of funding for religious groups.
Source: Aggressive Conservatism in Florida, by Robert Crew, p. 34
, Dec 11, 2009
1994: Get tough on recipients of public assistance
During his 1994 run, he made welfare a main issue in his campaign, vowing to get tough on recipients of public assistance--even if it meant, he said at one point, having the state take away the children of parents who were too lazy to find a job.
At event after event, Jeb talked about the welfare mom who, given all the various freebies available to her like Aid to Families with Dependent Children and Medicaid and so forth, was pulling down an extravagant $15,000 a year in benefits.
Source: America's Next Bush, by S.V. Date, p. 13
, Feb 15, 2007
More government money to religious groups
Regarding church and state issues, George Sr. and George Jr. both supported sending more government money to religious groups, even if some of it helped them proselytize. So did Jeb.
Where George Sr. may have read executive summary of a report and schmoozed with the people who wrote it, and George Jr. may ask for a one-sentence synopsis and then snap at the aide for giving him too much information,
Jeb will actually take the briefing book home and read it. In a press conference, Jeb will far more articulately explain the report and the policy than either his father or brother.
In the end, though, the result is likely to be the same: a set of policies that in most cases only hard-core economic and cultural conservatives can support.
Source: America's Next Bush, by S.V. Date, p. 28
, Feb 15, 2007
Welcome community and faith based organizations as partners
Last year, I asked you to join me in an unshakable commitment to educating our children, diversifying our economy, and strengthening the bonds that hold our families together.
Today, I thank you for honoring that commitment and ask that we continue on the path of progress for the people we serve.
We are stronger because we recognize that government isn't the sole answer to the most important questions, and we welcome community and faith based organizations as partners to serve the needs of Florida families.
Florida is in a better position to serve our people and face our future, and I thank the members of the Legislature for creating that opportunity.
Source: 2004 State of the State speech to the Florida Legislature
, Mar 2, 2004
Replace AFDC with limited temporary assistance
Jeb Bush decided to run for governor in 1994, vanquishing competition in the Republican primary and leading in polls during most of the fall. He called for fewer appeals for death row inmates and speedier executions, said Florida should withdraw from Aid
to Families with Dependent Children and replace it with limited temporary assistance. There was a rigid tone to Bush’s campaign; when one black man asked him what he would do to help him, Bush replied, “Probably nothing.”
Source: National Journal, the Almanac of American Politics
, Jan 28, 2000
Limit welfare benefits; supports welfare-to-work
Supports the following principles concerning welfare: - Maintain the four-year limit on welfare benefits.
- Require that able-bodied recipients participate in work-related
activities in order to receive benefits.
- Limit benefits given to recipients if they have additional children while on welfare.
Source: 1998 Florida National Political Awareness Test
, Jul 2, 1998
Help welfare recipients into workforce
Supports the following principles concerning welfare: - Increase employment and job training programs for welfare recipients.
- Provide tax incentives to businesses that
hire welfare recipients.
- Provide child care for welfare recipients who work.
- Increase access to public transportation for welfare recipients who work.
Source: 1998 Florida National Political Awareness Test
, Jul 2, 1998
Taking welfare should be more shameful than working
Aristotle created a special category of virtue, which he called “quasi virtues.” In it he placed shame. Shame has always been an important mechanism for exercising self-control. An example of how we have come to devalue shame in our society is in our
welfare system. In the mid-1960s, only half of those eligible for welfare payments were taking them and many enrolled would refuse to take the maximum allowance. People shined shoes and found other ways to bring in money that by today’s standards would
be considered shameful. However, by the early 1970s, the stigma of receiving welfare had been lost by an administration that encouraged receipt of welfare. The rolls exploded as a much higher percentage of those who were eligible suddenly thought it less
shameful to take advantage of the benefits rather than employ themselves in a job requiring hard work, such as shining shoes or sweeping floors. For many it is more shameful to work than to take public assistance-that is how backward shame has become!
Source: Profiles in Character, by Jeb Bush & B.Yablonski, p. 52-55
, Nov 1, 1995
Maintain federal Social Services Block Grant funding.
Bush adopted the National Governors Association position paper:
The Issue
Despite an ongoing need to provide social services to families, the elderly, and the disabled, federal funding for the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) has been cut dramatically over the past few years, indicating a weakening of the historic state-federal partnership to serve needy Americans. In 1996, as part of the historic welfare reform agreement, Congress agreed to provide the states $2.38 billion each year for SSBG. Since that time, funding has been chipped away little by little. This year, SSBG is funded at $1.725 billion. NGA’s Position
The nation’s Governors have consistently supported the broad flexibility of the SSBG and are adamantly opposed to cuts in federal funding for the program. Governors believe that funding for SSBG is among the most valuable federal investment that can be made for the nation’s most vulnerable population.
Further cuts will be difficult for state and local governments to absorb and will cause a disruption in the delivery of the most critical human services. Governors believe that funding for SSBG should be restored to $2.38 billion, and transferability should be permanently restored to 10 percent, the levels that were agreed to as part of the 1996 welfare reform law. In 1996, Governors reluctantly agreed to a slight reduction in funding for SSBG, from $2.8 billion to $2.38 billion, with the understanding that funding would remain at $2.38 billion through fiscal 2002, and then return to $2.8 billion. However, the federal government has consistently broken that promise. The nation’s Governors strongly urge Congress and the administration to reject the proposed cuts and to restore funding and flexibility to the program.
Source: National Governors Association "Issues / Positions" 01-NGA14 on Sep 7, 2001
Maintain flexibility & funding levels for TANF block grants.
Bush adopted the National Governors Association position paper:
The Issue
The 1996 welfare reform law, including the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant, needs to be reauthorized before September 30, 2002. NGA’s Position
In 1996, the Governors, Congress, and the administration entered into a historic welfare reform agreement. In exchange for assuming the risk involved with accepting the primary responsibility for transforming the welfare system from one of dependency to self-sufficiency, Governors agreed to guaranteed funding for the life of the TANF block grant along with significant flexibility to administer federal programs. The current NGA policy on welfare reform makes three key points:- Maintain flexibility. The TANF block grant was created so that states could develop innovative approaches to addressing welfare reform, and states have been successful in tailoring their programs to meet the individual needs of their citizens. This flexibility must be maintained so that states can
continue the progress of welfare reform.
- Maintain investment. States are provided with $16.5 billion each year in federal TANF funds, which together with the required state maintenance-of-effort funds, finance welfare reform. Some will argue that the funding should be cut because of the dramatic drop in caseloads. But TANF is no longer just about cash assistance - states are now serving a much broader population than under the old welfare system, and states are now providing services to families that help them succeed and advance in the workplace, not just cutting a check for cash each month.
- Move toward greater program alignment. The Food Stamp Program is one example of a program that is in great need of reform, and its connection to welfare reform should be discussed in the context of reauthorization. Other related programs that should be considered include child support, child welfare, housing, the Workforce Investment Act and Medicaid.
Source: National Governors Association "Issues / Positions" 01-NGA17 on Sep 21, 2001
More federal funding for Low-income energy assistance.
Bush signed the Southern Governors' Association resolution:
- Whereas, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), created to assist low-income households in meeting their cooling and heating needs, provides less than 20 percent of the Nation’s eligible applicants with assistance and is distributed based on a formula that is weighted toward cold weather, with only 2.8 percent in FY95 being used for cooling needs;
- Whereas, the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), a program designed to provide low-income households with energy efficient improvements, is underfunded and provides 10 times more funding to states with more heating assistance needs than states that have more cooling needs;
- Whereas, sixteen southern states account for 43 percent of the low-income households in the United States and the majority of the southern states receive significantly less than the national average in the LIHEAP state gross allotments and WAP funding;
- Resolved, that the Southern Governors’ Association urges Congress and the President to provide in any national energy policy increased funding for Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) to include a larger proportion of eligible low-income households while equitably addressing both cooling and heating needs.
Source: Resolution of Southern Governor's Assn. on Energy Policy 01-SGA12 on Sep 9, 2001
Supports TANF grants to states.
Bush signed the Southern Governors' Association resolution:
- Whereas, Congress reformed public assistance in 1996 with the creation of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program;
- Whereas, included in this program were modest supplemental grants for 17 relatively poor or rapidly growing states;
- Whereas, nine of the 17 qualifying states are from the South and receive 78.6% of the funding totaling $251 million;
- Whereas, these grants that help southern states provide important services, such as child care, job training and placement, and transportation to low-income families; and
- Whereas, authorization for these grants is set to expire at the end of the 2001 federal fiscal year; now, therefore, be it
- Resolved, that the southern governors call upon Congress to extend for one year the TANF supplemental grants to the 17 identified states:
- Resolved, that Congress should include in its 2002 TANF reauthorization bill provisions that will continue the supplemental grants for poor and fast growing states and use information from the 2000 census to identify any new states that meet the eligibility criteria; and
- Resolved, that Congress should provide adequate funding if new states are identified as being eligible for the supplemental grants.
Source: Resolution of Southern Governor's Assn. on TANF 01-SGA9 on Aug 7, 2001
Page last updated: Jan 19, 2015
