OOPS! Kansas may be in doggy doo, with the government.

TOPEKA— A $25 limit on welfare recipients' ATM withdrawals that drew national attention to Kansas may be on its way out.

Lawmakers passed a bill Saturday that would allow the secretary of the Department for Children and Families to raise the limit - or eliminate it if necessary - to comply with conditions of the federal grants that fund the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.

The banned activities ranged from strip clubs and cruise ships to swimming pools, sports events, movies and theme parks.

How do you know what the people on welfare are using the cash for?  Do you think they use their ATM card, when they go to these events?  If someone has to be on government assistance, do you think they are going to waste it in the above ways?  Of course, maybe someone who managed to get on government assistance, who does not qualify, could lie, but then how do you know they used their assistance, to do it?  Would they be stupid  enough to use their card at any of those places?  Do they have a way of tracking the cards to see where they are used?  

Haley, who is black, told his predominantly white colleagues that the face of poverty in the state "looks more like you than me."

Sen. Michael O'Donnell, R-Wichita, who carried the original bill on the floor, said he found Haley's rhetoric "a little bombastic." 

"If that was political or racial, I'm not sure," he said.

Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook, R-Shawnee, said the restrictions are designed to get welfare recipients working and improve their self-esteem.

"This was not done to save money, quite the contrary," she said. "Everyone here in this body wants to do the right thing. ... To insinuate otherwise is degrading."

Did it occur to anyone that most people on government assistance are already working, but in crappy jobs, which are the only ones they could find, which don't pay them a living wage, with which to feed and take care of their families?  Isn't it the Rethugs, who refuse to help get a living wage, for their constituents, so they won't need government assistance, thereby saving money, in the long run?

If the people, on assistance, are not working, are they living "high on the hog", with all the money they are getting, which they can only get, for a limited number of years?

And what kind of “self-esteem” is it to “degrade” people, who need government assistance and make them feel like shit?  

The people in the Kansas legislature, who passed this bill aren't interested in doing the “right thing”!  They are only interested in making it look like they are saving money, so they can give more tax breaks, to the wealthy.

The money for welfare is "taken" from other Kansans, and the Legislature has a duty to see it spent responsibly, said Sen. Steve Fitzgerald, R-Leavenworth.

He called opposition to the restrictions "political theater masquerading as concern."

Actually, what Mr Fitzgerald meant was “the money is taken from other Kansans and they have a duty to spend it responsibly, by giving more tax breaks, to their wealthy campaign donors.” Yes it is “political theater masquerading as concern”, but it is “their concern for their wealthy donors”!  They're the ones providing the money, to get them elected.

Kansas Action for Children, an advocacy group for poor families, said the fix-it bill stops short of helping children or families.

They said the ATM withdrawal limits, which were authorized,  whether it's $25 or $60, won't promote self-reliance.  All it seems to be doing is penalizing Kansas families for being poor.

Right now, with the $25 withdrawal limit, it means, they will be paying additional fees, just to get access to their money.  Some banks charge anywhere from $1.50-$3.00, per withdrawal, so if you can no longer withdraw a larger amount, it means you are going to have more withdrawals, which means more fees.  Some ATMs don't give out $5 bills, some only give out $20 bills, so how much additional money, of their benefits, is it costing them, just to get access to them?

In addition to the ATM language, the bill also includes an increase in "privilege fees," a tax on managed-care organizations, also known as health maintenance organizations.
The bill would raise the privilege fee from 1 percent of total premiums to 3.31 percent. The fee would generate an estimated $48 million toward closing the $400 million budget gap.
Much of the extra income would be federal funding, since the biggest managed-care organizations in the state are the three that manage the state's KanCare Medicaid program.
The managed-care organization tax was not thought to be controversial.
It was the result of lengthy negotiations with the companies. "We have agreements with all the HMOs affected," said Rep. Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, who carried the bill on the floor.
The managed-care organization fee increase has been automatically included in every proposal to balance the budget.