The Welfare System is Broken
Because of the Baldacci administration’s policies, the number of people trapped in Maine’s welfare system is skyrocketing.
- Between March 2003 and August 2010, welfare system enrollment grew 73% (from 226,000 to 391,000)
- If this trend continues, Maine is on pace to have more people on welfare by 2013 than are working in private sector jobs.
Almost 1 in 3 Mainers are trapped in the welfare system.
- 29.6% of Maine’s total population is on some form of welfare.
- Maine ranks second in the nation in the percent of its population on Food Stamps, second for TANF cash assistance, and second for Medicaid.
Maine’s poverty rate is growing despite the welfare system’s huge cost and size.
- Between 2001 and 2007, the portion of Mainers living in poverty grew from 10.3% to 10.9%
Maine spent $2.506 billion on its welfare system in 2008 alone – more than it spent on:
- Attracting new jobs ($47.6 million)
- K-12 public education ($2.278 billion)
Fix the System
Focus aid on the truly needy.
- Tighten income eligibility requirements
- Eliminate handouts for drug felons and non-citizens
Define success as a new paycheck, not more welfare checks
- Help people toward work and self-sufficiency first, with welfare as a last resort.
- Create real and enforceable work and job search requirements.
- Establish clear and firm time limits.
Overhaul Maine’s welfare bureaucracy
- Rename Maine’s welfare bureaucracy from Office of Integrated Access and Support to Maine EMPOWER (Employing and Moving People Off Welfare and Encouraging Responsibility).
- Simplify and streamline the system in order to provide a clear path to self-sufficiency.
- Set work and self-sufficiency goals for recipients, and report total results to taxpayers each month.
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