Maine sits on millions in federal welfare dollars, yet poverty rises
Source: Portland Press Herald
Since 2012, when Gov. Paul LePage and his allies successfully established a 60-month lifetime cap on federal welfare benefits, Maine has drastically reduced both its caseload and its spending.
The state still gets the same amount every year under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant program – about $78 million – but instead of shifting that extra money to other areas designed to assist low-income families with children, Maine has mostly sat on it.
In less than five years, the LePage administration has quietly stockpiled $155 million in unspent TANF funds, according to state budget data, an unused balance that has grown at a rate higher than any other state in that time. Maine’s total as a percentage of annual grant funding is among the highest in the country as well.
Meanwhile, extreme childhood poverty – defined as families making less than 50 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $10,000 – has increased in Maine during that time.
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Read more: http://www.pressherald.com/2016/10/23/maine-sits-on-tens-of-millions-in-federal-welfare-dollars-even-with-extreme-childhood-poverty-on-rise/
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, and just think the Maine voters keep voting against there own children to be protected from people like this and then they whine when there kids are going hungry
... what a relief it must be! He sandbagged you twice with 3rd-party candidates. So... have you filed papers yet to run for governor?
