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August 12, 2010 in City, Region
Gregoire announces $51M in cuts to state welfare
OLYMPIA — Fewer people will qualify for a state welfare program that provides child care subsidies and help finding a job under cuts announced by Gov. Chris Gregoire today.
She said that at least $51 million is being cut from WorkFirst, the state’s welfare-to-work program, because while enrollment continues to rise, matching funds from the federal government have remained flat since the 1990s.
The program, started in August 1997, helps low-income families with support and training in getting and keeping jobs, offering things like monthly stipends and child care subsidies.
Most of the cuts will come from granting fewer extensions to families who reach the five-year time limit and lowering the income eligibility for the child care subsidy. Other cuts will be made to employment, education and training services.
Starting February 2011, about 5,500 families will be kicked out of WorkFirst, and will lose a monthly stipend ranging from $453 for a family of two to $762 for a family of five, in addition to a host of other benefits, including the child care stipends.
Starting Oct. 1, the eligibility rules for child care stipends will be increased, meaning that about 2,500 families will lose that assistance.
Department of Social and Health Services spokesman Thomas Shapley said that at a minimum, people will be notified by mail in advance of any changes in their status, eligibility or benefits. He noted that they will not lose other services, such as food stamps or medical coverage that they otherwise qualify for.
Advocacy groups decried the cuts, and said that removing poor families from the program will cause them to seek out social services through different state programs.
“This seems like a really tough time to put families on the street,” said Robin Zukoski, a staff attorney for Columbia Legal Services, which provide civil legal aid to low-income people. “These families are not going to just disappear. They’re going to go into the homeless shelters.”
DSHS director Susan Dreyfus said that the agency would immediately start working with the families that will be affected to ensure they have a plan come February.
“This becomes a shared responsibility between government, communities and families,” she said. “It’s going to take all of us to pull together and help these families out.”
Gregoire also said that across-the-board cuts to other state programs are all but certain in October.
Gregoire said she has told state agencies to prepare for cuts of 4 to 7 percent effective Oct. 1, but said she’ll know firmer numbers after the state’s updated revenue forecast in September. Based on recent bleak tax collections that show less money going into the state’s coffers, she’s preparing for the worst.
Heading into January’s 105-day legislative session, Gregoire said lawmakers will need to quickly pass a supplemental budget cutting $500 million from the last six months of this year. The 2011-2013 budget will need to cut 10 percent in order to prepare for an expected $3 billion shortfall.
“State government, out of necessity, will need to be smaller,” Gregoire said.
Gregoire said even with the influx of more than $540 million in federal dollars coming to the state, the state’s reserves have dwindled to $72 million.
On Tuesday, President Barack Obama signed a $26 billion bill that sends money to cash-strapped states, including Washington. Washington will received $338 million in Medicaid match money, and an additional $205 million for education jobs. State officials are still working out how they are allowed to use the education money, but the health care money prevented the state from going into an immediate deficit, Gregoire said
“We were able to dodge a bullet,” Gregoire said. “But our budget remains under considerable stress.”
Gregoire said she’s not implementing across-the-board cuts sooner because she needs to give large agencies time to come up with plans on how they will make the cuts. She could offer no estimates on the number of layoffs that could be a result of the cuts. While Gregoire is limited by the Legislature to across-the-board cuts for state agencies, she has the authority to make more specific cuts in welfare programs, like WorkFirst.
Republicans renewed calls for a special session, something the majority Democrats in the Legislature have not supported. A special session would allow lawmakers to make more nuanced decisions on spending or taxes, instead of cutting all agencies equally.
Senate Republican budget chief Sen. Joe Zarelli, of Ridgefield, said that if next month’s revenue forecast shows a significant drop, “it is doubtful that across-the-board cuts could achieve the level of savings necessary to keep the state out of the red between now and next summer.”
“A better approach would be for the Legislature to come back into a short special session to address this budget crisis,” he said in a written statement.
But Gregoire has long said she would not call lawmakers back unless they had a plan that they could execute quickly.
In a letter sent from House budget leaders last month, Democrats indicated that a special session could be drawn out by a lack of consensus on what to do, like earlier this year when lawmakers had go into a 30-day overtime session in order to balance the budget.
Also complicating the issue is the fact that any special session this fall would pull lawmakers off the campaign trail and lead to potentially tough votes. The entire House and about half the Senate are running for re-election in November.
© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Couple acquitted of caging 2 boys 
west on August 12 at 11:53 a.m.
yadayadayada……
terrymr on August 12 at 11:57 a.m.
If everyone were to follow this logic, tax revenues would become an ever declining spiral.
Find ways to boost the economy, rather than adding to the ranks of the unemployed.
worthasecondlook on August 12 at 12:22 p.m.
Cut the welfare programs but leave the public safety ones alone.
mikeln on August 12 at 12:40 p.m.
How about cutting the profit that some of the good old boys are making? I’m sure if we looked hard enough, we could find a couple of places where these good old boys are making way to much for what they provide. We had a agency that looked into things like this, the good old boys cut the funding for it, makes me wonder why.
Dazzeetrader11 on August 12 at 12:59 p.m.
Sure Mike….lol….good call. Kill off the job generators. Bright idea!
I wonder if Gregoire has sent Verner a note telling her!
Cut welfare and keep the …. ……what “worthasecondlook” said!
bdr on August 12 at 1:07 p.m.
Just tell China repayment cant be done.
Our bankers cant survive with billion dollar paychecks.
Teachers cant survive on anything less than 100k per year.
Police need 150k to kill innocent people with pop bottles.
We cant decide weather strait marriage permits that declined to zip , is reason to justify gay marriage to keep permits tax’s rising?
Someone like a loony school teacher is running for president in 2012 if she wins she still has PMS and the button to 1500 nukes in her hand.
Our public education system has never taught us math beyond millions (while the nightly news reports billions and 60 minutes reports trillions on Sunday’s) The public tips heads like a dog.
60 million 1/4th of America is to fat. cant count,unemployed
80 million 1/3rd of America is over 62 gray hair,cant hear,cant see, entering salinity
102 million are kids Gen y millennial’s born with only one usable hand. The other hand permanently holes a cell phone.
Armageddon fellow is running for Pelosi’s seat. 2010…..!
If Armageddon WINS 2010……..there will be meteor showers in August and Armageddon in November.
Repayment to China just cant be done…….sorry folks!
tea-party is fun but! BUT
join the C-party….
mission: default On China and party-party-party!
dcmyers1 on August 12 at 1:38 p.m.
The state didn’t “dodge a bullet” it just took one between the eyes by taking the federal money. Wake up time for our legislators-
SugarShane on August 12 at 1:39 p.m.
Legalize Cannabis as the #1 solution on your website seeking input suggested. California should not be the only one to reap those benefits and revenue. It would create tons of jobs and free up money being spent to law enforcement and incarceration. Or hey heres an idea, why not trim the half trillion plus defense budget, or get the hell out of Absurdistan and Iraq. Cut welfare, yeah right, like they give you Sooooo much, thats not a very Christian thing to do now is it?
MrNatural on August 12 at 2:11 p.m.
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west on August 12 at 3:17 p.m.
Hey, when the private sector unemployment gets down to 5 percent and millions of us are back to work..then state gov can get back to normal..untill that happens…wa wa wa…. another 5-8 years it will.
PhiltheBibliophil on August 12 at 4:13 p.m.
I am a lifelong Democrat and will continue to be until I croak! But, why in H– has this woman not been recalled? If this is the best Washington has to offer, God help us!
carbonuser on August 12 at 5:44 p.m.
YAAAAAAAAAA……where is my uncle Oslama welfare…….?????
healinhand on August 12 at 5:59 p.m.
Get this Moron out of office…..Quick
Orange on August 12 at 6:04 p.m.
I didn’t vote for her. Dino would have had all straightened out by now. :)
thoughtdr on August 12 at 6:49 p.m.
Lets be honest, neither Gregoire or Rossi would have solved this issue, we’d be in this mess either way. As for what to do to solve the issue, couples/families making over $200,000 should be carrying a bigger tax burden. Few people in our society warrant such a high annual salary, certainly not sports stars or company CEO’s the contribute next to to society as a whole. And for those of you who will say that this will cripple the recovery thats bull, if greedy executives took a pay cut rather than keep their salaries inflated by cutting costs of hiring new employees and expanding their business then the recovery would actually gain traction. So blame it on the greedy people making millions a year off our blood and sweat.
steveeugster on August 12 at 6:59 p.m.
After reading many of the comments posted thus far, I have to wonder whether democracy is a good thing? Lord Almighty, some of the comments are just plain stupid. Maybe the commentators suffer from the same condition?
Shylock13 on August 12 at 7:23 p.m.
How many employees of the Executive Branch have been terminated? How many have not received at least token raises? How many have been made to take a “furlough” without pay? Have any of the state officers (Governor, AG, etc.) received any raises? The Governor owes the taxpayers, and those whose support she has just cut, answers to all these questions! Also, Governor, why did you not include these programs in your “across the board” reductions?????
misjustice on August 12 at 7:56 p.m.
From the article it appears to me that the Governor is making difficult decisions during trying economic times; the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression can hardly be blamed solely on the Governor. Nor is it peculiar to Washington state, a majority of States are facing similar money woes.
“The worst recession since the 1930s has caused the steepest decline in state tax receipts on record. As a result, even after making very deep spending cuts over the last two years, states continue to face large budget gaps. At least 46 states struggled to close shortfalls when adopting budgets for the current fiscal year (FY 2011, which began July 1 in most states).”
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=711
Additionally, it seems from my reading of the article that there are going to be plenty of budget cuts to go around, including state government jobs, ensuring that every sector is going to blame the Governor in particular, and gubmint in general. And once the budgetary shortfalls are resolved, people will still be angry and will still be blaming gubmint for something…
@ Mr. Bear; as to why the Gov. didn’t include certain items in an across the board cut, the article says that many of those things are under the authority of the Legislature, not the Executive.
misjustice on August 12 at 7:57 p.m.
@ Mr. Eugster; democracy is messy!
Dazzeetrader11 on August 12 at 8:53 p.m.
I’d like to know what Steve Eugster would do. He’s a bright, innovative man. Speak up Steve! We never hear from you anymore…
Parenthetically…I think Gregoire, Verner, Obama have run the train off the tracks. ALL of em need to grow up do what they’re supposed to do.: CUT TAXES.
November…you people must vote conservative…no matter the party.
Diana on August 12 at 9:02 p.m.
Yeah, Daisy. You have a lot of influence and we’ll do whatever you say.
eagleproducer on August 12 at 9:09 p.m.
The austerity hawks are at it again…
The initial federal stimulus was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY too small. Obama and the Democratic congress had a chance to pass a much larger package that could have been actually centered upon job creation rather than propping up the public sector in return for votes in November. Now, the political capital has been spent on other “priorities” that won’t matter squat with massive unemployment.
Dazzeetrader11 on August 12 at 9:45 p.m.
Vote for liberal spends then . Diana…we’ve already tried spending suicide. You would seriously like to do this forever?
It’s America…resistance is in full bloom. Obama, Gregoire and Verner all have done the same thing…just different magnitudes and scales.
It just doesn’t work to spend and spend and spend. The underpinning of this coutry are the workers. When the jobs markets grow cold more unemployment ensues. Anarchy will follow….
Vote conservative Diana. Purty pwease;)
mikeln on August 13 at 6:09 a.m.
Daisy, the people I’m talking about do not use the money they steal from the taxpayers to create jobs, they use it to gain power.
JBlim on August 13 at 7:20 a.m.
I agree with msjustice. Gregoire has been getting the job done, all the GOP offers is rhetoric, or worse. The problem with Republicans is that they’re all gung ho for tax cuts for the rich but are clueless when it’s time to cut spending.
misjustice on August 13 at 8:06 a.m.
DAZE states, “Parenthetically…I think Gregoire, Verner, Obama have run the train off the tracks.”
No, DAZE, the Repuplican’ts ran the train off the tracks during their reign of power; now, we are left with the budgetary reality of tax cuts for the rich - empty tax coffers - and difficult decisions of how to balance a state budget.
If tax cuts for the rich were truly an economic stimulus then why,after 10 years of the Dubya tax cuts, are we in our current situation? DAZE, in all the posts that you’ve made, you have NEVER explained why your trickle down economic theory has failed to produce one job…
Scoutster on August 13 at 8:33 a.m.
Daisy…
I never did hear back from you as to why “Jobs and Growth” in 2003, the pure application of supply side/trickle down, didn’t lead to either jobs or growth by 2008 as promised by the fiscally responsible GOP.
What happened? What did those naughty liberals do to it to make it fail?
No governor is going to very popular in the next few years. They are going to make us take some serious austerity medicine, and the bottle is neither red nor blue.
It’s OUR fault.
eagleproducer on August 13 at 10:15 a.m.
richard: Get used to the class warfare. People are finally beginning to understand what matters and what most of us have in common. Despite the conservative drive to keep people distracted with race, sexual identity, abortion, guns, religion, et.al., the average citizen is finally discovering the true identity of their largest foe: Capitalism! I would like you to provide a specific example of an inaccuracy in an article from The Nation. When mistakes are made they issue corrections immediately. I don’t believe you’ve ever read The Nation cover-to-cover. It’s just another example of the crass manner with which you address everything that you don’t understand. Marxists are patient because we know economics evolve on their own. These are but the death throes of capitalism, proving once again the built in inefficiencies of a system that has never provided full employment, distributes income upward, and exploitatively immoral at its core.
The private sector is sitting on 1.8 trillion to invest in recovery and aren’t. They were propped up by the public just so they could economize and regain their status as paper tigers who’ll just take their collective balls and go home if the skids aren’t sufficiently greased. People will start to take it if they can’t obtain it in other ways. We outnumber them and their police state participants thousands to one.
Do you really believe everyone can simply follow the examples of a few ultra-wealthy individuals and be lucky enough to amass a fortune? Why aren’t you Bill Gates III then? Are the resources available for all to be millionaires? Of course not, and holding it up as a paradigm ignores that reality.
scoutster: You are right, get used to hearing “let ‘em eat cake.”
Hcklbery on August 13 at 10:32 a.m.
Library directors salary- over $100,000.00 + perks
Fire Chiefs salary- over $100,000.00 + perks
Police Chiefs salary- over $100,00.00 + perks
College Administrators- WELL over $100,000.00 + perks
Grade school & High School Suprt- OVER $200,000.00 + perks
Conclusion >>>
For State employees BUSINESS IS A BOOMING.
misjustice on August 13 at 10:40 a.m.
Recently passed federal legislatioin is starting to claw back tax breaks to offshore jobs, perhaps this will help to refill our tax coffers and spur job creation here…
“A little observed provision to remove the tax incentives to offshore outsource your job was passed last Friday by the House of Representatives in the American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act of 2010 bill.
The legislation ties corporate revenues directly to the foreign tax credit. If passed, no longer can a corporation claim credits for foreign taxes yet park the actual profits made offshore in a low tax country. Previously corporations claimed the foreign tax credits, yet only to reduce their U.S. tax liability. The actual foreign revenues were not repatriated into the United States. If one obtains tax credits yet doesn’t have to actually pay tax on profits accrued offshore, this encourages the movement of capital, assets and production overseas, including jobs.”
http://www.economicpopulist.org/content/house-passed-bill-which-closes-offshore-outsourcing-international-corporate-tax-scheme
Dazzeetrader11 on August 13 at 11:51 a.m.
No doubt J. But with Obama using tax dollars to lower overhead, the large corps still come out ahead. I don’t know why people think oBama’s on their side when he isn’t.
I think the media and common sense folks are figuring it out. He promised lots but gave nothing. Election ploys are common. Gregoire ( what debt?) did the same thing. Verner (buy buildings and use a car tab fee tax to pay for her unneeded purchases too) is similar.
It’s the liberal spending that is killing us all. Obama knew what he was doing all along. He came to us with his game plan ready to go. He’s been in such a hurry because he knew America would figure his game out. He’ll be stopped soon. Then come the real fun of 2012. America should never forget.
Boot em all. Our survival depends on it.
Scoutster on August 13 at 1:19 p.m.
Sorry, Daisy…
What about that “Jobs and Growth” thingy?
misjustice on August 13 at 4:31 p.m.
And DAZE, what about the ‘evidence’ that trickle down economics works just dandy as a job creation engine thingy?
Waiting…………….
maddiewalker on August 13 at 6:44 p.m.
Phil—you’re no Democrat. If you were, you’d have the brains to realize every state is in trouble (especially California with it’s republican governor)—caused by the worst financial disaster since the great depression brought to us by 8 years of Dubya. You are no Democrat—you’re full of it—and your “name” totally gives you away—duh.
misjustice on August 13 at 7:43 p.m.
@ maddie; no disrespect but Phil, despite his “name” is really fairly centrist, a common sense, moderate liberal even. If you don’t believe me, click on his name and you will be taken to a page listing contributors’ most recent posts to threads…
btw, he is not a bible o phil ( I guess it would mean one that loves the bible) but a biblio phil…biblio merely means one that likes books…not scary unless you are against fancy book learnin’.
Dazzeetrader11 on August 13 at 11:54 p.m.
J: define “trickle down” just so we’re on the same page using the same definitions.
misjustice on August 14 at 1:11 a.m.
Trickle Down Theory
An informal term for a macroeconomic theory that a government can best promote growth by providing incentives for persons to produce goods and services. The primary way a government does this is by maintaining low tax rates so that investors and entrepreneurs may invest their money in production. Maintaining low tax rates on the wealthy is one of the most important and controversial aspects of trickle down theory; the theory states that if well off persons have the capital available to produce goods and services, they create jobs and thereby grow the economy. In other words, the growth “trickles down” from the wealthy to the remainder of the economy. Critics contend that this does not happen in reality and that the wealthy are more likely to keep, rather than invest, their money. In the United States, trickle down theory was crucial to the economic policy of the Ronald Reagan administration. See also: Keynesian economics, Monetarism, Thatcherism.
http://financial-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Trickle+Down+Theory
Scoutster on August 14 at 7:04 a.m.
What she said.
misjustice on August 14 at 2:42 p.m.
DAZE….we’re waaaaaaiting!
misjustice on August 15 at 7:54 a.m.
Still waaaaaaiting….
misjustice on August 16 at 6:30 a.m.
DAZE can’t deliver; typical…when she’s losing the argument she avoids the thread…all she’s got is rhetoric and wrong conclusions.
Scoutster on August 16 at 9:23 a.m.
Yup.
All hat, no cattle.
gb333 on November 04 at 8:15 a.m.
I am really confused at any slander towards Gregoire from republicans over this. She is cutting walefare and spending.
I thought you guys wanted that.
I personally want it too. Especially if the article is correct in saying, “Most of the cuts will come from granting fewer extensions to families who reach the five-year time limit…”
But man it just makes me think that Republicans are loony reading these comments. I am not a Democrat.
robert1964 on August 13 at 10:59 a.m.
yeah as i recall welfare is supposed to be a temp in between a job thing - not a career move to have more kids to collect more - so since section8 is also behind the back bone of the majority of more problems then sloutions - then they need to seperate by a long shot the two - there is a huge diffrence in section 8 housing for the disabled with real disabilitys - then familys who arent disabled at all - so they need to get their crap together and seperate the two to focus on jobs - and not creating more jobs for the free handout programs that arent free by any means - we the hard working tax payer pay these things - when in actuality they are going in the wrong direction to begin with - some of it does go in the right direction - but i wont stand for our tax payer monies going to people who dont even deserve it - its chop chop time anyway and then we will see who appreciates what and really sticks up for the country and that includes the people in it - and no i am not sticking up for the criminals - drug dealers - gangs - or homeinvaders - robbers - killers - we already pay 50,000 a piece already - each one