Sheila Jackson Lee proposes new term for 'welfare'

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who has decried the failure of Congress to extend unemployment benefits before its December recess, is talking about changing the vocabulary of assistance.

In a speech Jan. 8 on the House of Representatives floor, Jackson Lee suggested renaming government welfare.

"Maybe the word 'welfare' should be changed to something of, 'a transitional living fund,'" Jackson Lee said, according to a post on The Minority Report blog. "For that is what it is - for people to be able to live," she said.

The congresswoman went on to speak well of the Earned Income Credit, food and nutrition programs, jobs training and education programs, Medicaid, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act as "huge safety nets - not handouts, but safety nets," the Minority Report said.