Kansas bans welfare recipients from going swimming, seeing movies

The Kansas governor signed a law today that will prohibit welfare recipients from using benefit money to go to movies, amusement parks, or swimming. I can maybe understand the first two, but swimming just seems wrong to me. As a child, I survived many hot summers at the lake or the pool, and when you are out swimming, that is less money you have to spend on electricity for air conditioning.

It seems so odd that the Kansas government is so concerned about how people spend their meager benefits.

 

My heart just sunk reading about this. What kind of community would limit its citizens in such a demeaning way? We have all had hard times and needed a hand up here and there. Swimming is excellent exercise, especially after consuming what passes for food on a meager budget. Many people on welfare don't get any adjustments for cost of living increases, but the very congresspeople who vote to limit their benefits are the same that receive annual raises.

I work incredibly long hours at a very stressful job. There are days where I could use an escape and can't afford to go on a vacation. A movie is a nice two hour escape. Everyone deserves a little indulgence. Welfare recipients included. They are not second class citizens, and it is time we stop treating them that way. In some states, there has been mandatory drug testing for those on assistance, which has proved to be a major flop. Meanwhile, family members of those making such policies are caught with pounds and pounds of contraband.

Have we become such a selfish community that we have to run smear campaigns on the neediest? The war is supposed to be on poverty - not on the poor. A life without any entertainment is not much of a life. This is just very shameful how we treat those that need our help the most.

 

There are millions of people out there, busting their ass, working two- sometimes three jobs, just to support their families, and they don't get Government funded entertainment. I'm sure some single mom working 90 hours a week, would love to have the extra time/money to take her kid to the pool, or a movie, or even out for dinner somewhere... but she can't. Meanwhile, someone on welfare gets to take that single mother's tax money, and go to a strip-club, or an amusement park, or swimming pools, or see a movie, or go gambling.

 

Yes! I agree with you on all of it! I have been a divorced mother of young children. I worked two jobs, and went to college, to keep my kids out of the system. My kids didn't have all the latest gadgets and trips to the local amusement parks. What they do have is self esteem, and a good work ethic. This is NOT government money. The government doesn't produce anything, therefore the government has no money. The money in question is paid by the taxpayers, and our representatives need to remember that!

 

The $25 daily withdrawal limit is ridiculous, but I can understand wanting to stop welfare recipients from spending taxpayer money intended to pay their bills on luxuries like movies... However, as long as these funds can be withdrawn as cash, there is no way to prevent them from spending it on anything. The solution isn't to limit their cash withdrawal amount, it's to take the cash option away. What I find more interesting about these despicable laws is the fact that SNAP and TANF are FEDERAL programs that do not have any state money involved and the only group benefiting are the banks that issue EBT cards that charge a "transaction fee" for every transaction after the first one in a month for cash.

 

I agree with this limitation. Welfare is not meant to pay for entertainment, it is meant to pay for housing and basic necessities. There are plenty of ways a welfare recipient can enjoy themselves without spending money on movie tickets or amusement park tickets. That's what local parks are for, and public libraries have DVDs people can borrow for free. Far too many people abuse government benefits like welfare, so this is a way they can prevent some of that abuse from continuing.

 

I'm glad some one is taking a stand. I've seen the abuse of government assistance first hand and it's frustrating. It's not fair when they are driving better cars than I am.

 

There are millions that work full time jobs and because minimum wage is so low they still qualify for benefits. There are also many older people like grandparents raising grandkids and they qualify for benefits too. Don't judge when you don't know peoples situation.

 

Sometimes they got that car before they lost a job or bought it with a tax refund. I used to drive my moms convertible around to do my grocery shopping when I had benefits... but the rest of the time I was on the bus. You cannot judge based on what you see.

 

Student grant money is Federal as well. There is no one limiting how students spend those refund checks. There are plenty of kids using federal money for beer, drugs, expensive clothes and shoes, parting and other things besides school expenses. Where is the outrage for that??

 

I do not understand how you can ban someone from swimming or watching a movie. The state should never be able to control you in that way, even if you are a welfare recipient. I have to say that I am truly appalled and surprised by the actions of the Kansas government in this case, what a shocking discovery, I did not know they had these kind of policies in place. To put it bluntly, I disagree with this limitation.

 

In several states in the last five years, they wanted to drug test all the aid recipients to see if they could cut them off because of drug abuse, even making the recipients pay for their own drug tests. They didn't feel these folks were too poor to pay for drug tests and riding back and forth to their offices. The witch hunt turned up next to nothing and was itself a waste of money.

 

The complaint should really be about the low wages for people working full-time that have to still rely on these benefits. There are large portions of our country where retail and fast food jobs are all there is and that just means more people on federal aid programs. It is not enough money for two people to live on, let alone those with children.

One more note: just because children are from a poor family doesn't mean that they shouldn't be allowed to have candy.

 

I agree that the money should not be used for entertainment purposes.
The money is given to help the family live, not have fun.
Many people are working hard and making barely enough to make ends meet. They can't afford the movies either. Why should my tax dollars pay for someone's family to go to the movies when my family can not afford to go?

 

You must truly be miserable to want a say in how someone else spends their money, time or anything else! A swimming pool may be a last resort for someone with no air conditioning and a house full of children, yet you would force these people to suffer in silence so that you may feel comfort in your existential existence believing justice has been done. How many of you have been circumstances beyond your control. In a place career or relationship-wise, that was too far gone to leave but leading to a dead end situation? Please tell me how a battered woman/man is supposed to react to such harsh criticism if they were to read these responses, meanwhile knowing the only way to save their life and possibly the lives of their children would be to run away and temporarily accept benefits (gifts), to make ends meet.

It is a sad sight indeed, when we must spit on the world to feel good about ourselves. You don't know the effects your words will have on the world, so do yourself a favor and keep the spite to yourself.

 

Stop rewarding people for bad behavior. Birth Control needs to brought to the forefront of this country this problem needs to be addressed.
These so called mothers that name 5 different men as the father of their child is disgusting. If you spread your legs for so many men that you don't even know who got you pregnant.

You are not worthy of being a mother, and more then likely you are a minor yourself. That's the real issue here hold these so called parents accountable for the actions of their minor child that have absolutely no rearing. Then these babies grow up to be criminals that makes it all our problems because we become their victims once again. Either way they take our hard earned money through the government then through crime.

I don't feel sorry for them. I feel sorry for the people that try hard every day to make a descent life for their families to no avail. How can you get a head when you are being forced to pay taxes on a bunch of deadbeats that have no intention of ever doing or wanting any better. I know every person on welfare isn't abusing it, and isn't a deadbeat. I'm not addressing them I addressing the thousands that are pour parasites.

 

Very interesting dialogue going on here. It's hard to believe that the state of Kansas has gotten involved in the free market, and even more difficult to believe that so many folks see this as a good thing. The attempt to control another person's spending goes directly against a free market captialist economy.

I would assume that the folks that think this is a good idea, do not have jobs or holding in these companies that are being shut out by the Kansas legistlators. Everyone should be allow to decide and choose what to do with their money. Why anyone would believe that your money should be controlled by legislators is frightening to me. Most of the people that advocate for this system, likely would not appreciate these restrictions placed on themselves.

If someone decides to pass on lunch for a week in order to save up for a trip, a tool, or a new pair of shoes, they should be allow to do so and not be banned from the airport to buy a plane ticket, or the mall to buy a pair shoes because someone else believes that it is better for them to eat lunch.

Not to mention, that the airline, hardware store, and mall employees all need their jobs as well. The effects of these over reaching controls of an individual's free will to decide where and how much to spend will cause some businesses and companies to close down altogether, which in turn will eliminate jobs that provided for rents and utilities. This will only further expand the problem of what many are complaining about.

More individuals receiving benefits not less.