VIEW from behind the plow

Work is honorable and always has been in America.

That could be a key component to the success of this nation.

People who came to America came with the idea of working and profiting from their labor, making a better life for themselves and on down the ladder.

That is why we believe it is necessary to kill the national death tax, which Congress is discussing, and enforcing work requirements for able-bodied adults on welfare.

We have observed over the course of a lifetime that many people who have observable disabilities still find responsible jobs and work.

We silently applaud them.

It gives us a sense of fulfillment when we add a tip to a meal tab because we appreciate the waiters’ work and admire their willingness do what some might consider menial labor.

People who do janitorial work rank high in our estimation because – for one thing, they are so valuable (what would the world do without them? [answer: get really messy]) – and for another they are meeting their own needs.

That is ennobling in our estimation.

Maybe it comes from our raising, but we can’t imagine how anyone who doesn’t earn his own keep can have a good opinion of himself.

A day without a job to do sounds extremely boring to us.

Obviously some do not share that opinion.

Laws to help the truly vulnerable and needy are important, no doubt, But some see it as a gravy train to be ridden, adding to working people’s tax burden. That is a defeatist attitude. One failure leads to another and then another.

Working people seem to be happy people – smiling, cheerful and seeing the best in others. Besides that, it’s healthy. (Maybe that’s because working people are okay with themselves.)

In 1996, a Temporary Assistance for Needy Families law was enacted by a Republican Congress and signed by a Democrat president, Bill Clinton, tying work and job-training requirements to welfare payments.

Over time, the welfare reform law has become broken, allowing loopholes to be used to undermine the aim of that law.

Republicans in the House and Senate are making another effort to enforce work requirements for able-bodied adults on welfare.

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, and fellow Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday announced the Jobs and Opportunity with Benefits and Services Act.

“Our welfare programs should be a springboard to work and self-sufficiency, not a sinkhole into government dependency,” Daines said in a statement. “My bill supports struggling low-income families and equips them with the skills and resources they need to find and keep a job – something that gives them hope, dignity and a better future.”

Some Democrats and other critics have argued that work requirements can be onerous since welfare recipients are often more vulnerable populations.

We admit it takes more effort to raise yourself up than to lie down but the rewards are greater for the former.

“We know the history of government assistance programs. Rather than lift people out of poverty, they have created generational poverty and left millions of Americans perpetually dependent on government,” James said in a statement. “There are few things more debilitating than not being able to provide for oneself and one’s family.

“Assistance programs must help – not harm – the people they are intended to serve,” James said. “It’s time to ensure that people not only get the temporary assistance they need to get through the tough times, but that they also get help with the more permanent solution of finding meaningful work.”

The House version of the legislation is called the Jobs and Opportunity with Benefits and Services for Success (JOBS) Act.

According to House Republicans, less than half the total program dollars sent to states go toward supporting work requirements and job training. Instead, many states use the federal funds for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families to plug state budget gaps.

“Following the GOP tax cuts, our economy continues to soar, with wages rising at their fastest pace in a decade and near 50-year-low unemployment,” said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee and a co-sponsor of the House version.

“There are a record 7.3 million job openings, and millions of folks on the sidelines who we need—and want—to take part in this expanding economy,” Brady said in a statement. “This proposal builds on that by reforming our nation’s cash-for-work welfare program, refocusing this important program on the outcome of parents getting and keeping a job.”

A 2017 poll found 92 percent of Americans favor work requirements for welfare recipients.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children after the 1996 law. Caseloads, poverty rates, and welfare spending decreased in the near term.

However, by 2000, the trend began to reverse, according to a report released last year by Robert Rector and Vijay Menon of The Heritage Foundation. State welfare bureaucracies lapsed back into check-writing agencies, they wrote, and more than half of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families recipients in the average state is not engaged in any work or job-training program.

The simple solution to escaping poverty is to find a job.

This bill should help people to do that.