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January 19, 2011

Social Programs Could Get Axed

 

By Pamela M. Prah, Staff Writer

BUDGET CUTS: Programs that serve people who are poor, mentally ill or disabled all are on the chopping block in several states, including Washington State . A new round of budget cuts in Iowa might prompt the state to lay off 136 workers at mental health institutions. Meanwhile in Massachusetts , Governor Deval Patrick's administration aims to reduce programs that serve the elderly and developmentally disabled by $15 million. Deep cuts in social programs are included in California Governor Jerry Brown's budget, including $1.5-billion in a welfare-to-work program. And Michigan is eyeing tighter welfare rules as a way to save money. 

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE: States will soon have to start paying interest on the $40 billion they borrowed from the federal government to keep unemployment insurance checks in the mail, reports ProPublica . The amounts range from the $300 million that California owes to Kansas's $6 million. Federal stimulus money provided interest-free loans to state unemployment insurance trust funds, but that help ran out in December. States will have to pay back the interest beginning in September 2011, says a position paper from the National Governors Association .

MENTAL HEALTH: The mass shooting in Tucson and the mental history of suspect Jared Loughner has sparked debate about whether the state's mental health services are adequate, CBS 5 News reports. A 2009 survey by the National Alliance on Mental Illness found Arizona's mental health services had actually improved over the previous three years, to the point where the organization bumped Arizona's grade from a "D " to a "C," The New Republic says . But, NAMI noted, there are still enormous problems, from shortages of providers to long waits for services. PBS reports that tight budgets forced Arizona to cut $65 million from mental health services last year.  
FOOD STAMPS: More people than ever are depending on food stamps to put a meal on the table. Yet in Massachusetts, food stamp fraud by retailers is going largely unchecked, says a new report from the New England Center for Investigative Reporting, a project of Boston University's College of Communication. The Center cites limited state resources and the lack of a state law as factors that make it hard for local authorities to investigate and prosecute unscrupulous merchants.

POVERTY: A new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities concludes that a combination of existing safety-net programs and temporary expansions in them enacted in 2009 all but prevented a rise in the poverty rate that year. Meanwhile, the U.S. Census Bureau redefined what is considered poor in America by releasing several alternative measurements of poverty, fundamentally revising a one-size-fits-all formula developed in the 1960s by a civil servant, The Washington Post reported. 
Social Issues, Unemployment Insurance
 
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