Assembly Republicans pass full slate of Gov. Scott Walker's welfare limits

MADISON - The Wisconsin Assembly on Thursday approved Gov. Scott Walker's proposed welfare limits and sought federal help to cover more of the nearly $90 million in costs from the proposals.

Republicans approved the bills on party-line 62-35 votes, sending them to the Senate, where they are expected to pass quickly. In two 61-36 votes, Rep. Jessie Rodriguez (R-Oak Creek) joined Democrats in voting against creating health savings accounts for state coverage for the needy and Rep. Adam Neylon (R-Pewaukee) voted against requiring photo IDs for food stamps.

In addition, the GOP separately approved on a voice vote a five-year, $12 million pilot program to require food stamp recipients to use their benefits for healthy food.

Supporters have said that the welfare limits will shift more public benefit recipients into the workforce at a time when unemployment is at the historic low of 3%.

"We need every single person to fill jobs because of our record low unemployment," Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said.

Critics say the bills will be costly for state taxpayers to implement and less effective than using the money for programs like training for workers or public transportation to get them to jobs.

'What if we took the same $90 million that this is going to cost us and instead used it to help working families get ahead?" Rep. Lisa Subeck (D-Madison) said.

To offset some of the state costs, GOP lawmakers want to seek additional federal money for Food Share, the state's food stamp program.

Walker is pushing for a series of welfare bills, including requiring able-bodied parents of children on Food Share to work or get training to receive more than three months of benefits. Able-bodied adults without children are already required to work to get food stamps and Walker also wants to increase the work requirement from 20 hours a week to 30 hours for all adults covered by it.

These limits would likely lead to fewer benefits being paid out and some potential savings for federal taxpayers, who were responsible for all of the $887 million in Food Share benefits paid out last year.

Under current law, state taxpayers wouldn't get any of those savings.

To respond to this, the Assembly on Thursday amended a bill to require parents on Food Share to work, including in the proposal a request to the federal government to share some of the savings with the State of Wisconsin.

It's unclear whether President Donald Trump's administration would have the authority or willingness to do so.

An opponent of the bill said she believed that such a move would take an act of Congress. Sherrie Tussler, executive director of Hunger Task Force of Milwaukee, said the proposal was "straight out of Dickens."

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A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel review of state agency cost estimates found the 10 welfare bills proposed by Walker would cost $37.9 million a year for state and local taxpayers when fully implemented and $35.5 million for federal taxpayers, for a total of $87.5 million.

With the Food Share nutritional pilot, the total cost of these bills would reach nearly $100 million.

The bills would also:

Require pay-for-performance standards in the state's contracts with private groups that help run the state's Food Share and separate Welfare to Work, or W-2, programs.

Put asset limits on Food Share and W-2 programs to exclude people with homes valued at more than $321,200 and personal vehicles worth more than $20,000.

Create an up to $20 million fund to pay private contractors doing welfare, corrections and training contracts. The state could use the money to pay vendors for reaching big cost savings or improvements in performance.

Create health savings accounts for Medicaid recipients and create a pilot program to encourage them to eat healthy products.

Put recipients' photos on Food Share cards as a way to cut down on fraud.

Implement work requirements and drug testing for public housing programs.

The existing Food Share work requirement — proposed by Walker in 2013 and implemented in 2015 — has led so far to about 3.5 recipients losing benefits for every one who secured a job through the program. It's not known whether the recipients who lost benefits found jobs later.