Walker doesn’t understand

The proposals announced Jan. 18 by Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican leadership in the Legislature are punitive in the extreme and show a sad lack of understanding of what it is like for low-income households to live in poverty (“Gov. Scott Walker: Welfare reforms mean to boost Wisconsin’s workforce”).

Just one example: The “reforms” will, for the first time, require parents to meet a work requirement to continue receiving FoodShare benefits after three months. But, while the overall proposal provides $20 million for agencies administering welfare programs (many of which are private, for-profit entities), I could not find one dollar dedicated to providing child care support to those families which would now be required to meet a work requirement. How are parents supposed to meet these requirements while assuring their children are properly protected?

And anyone who thinks that the act of denying FoodShare benefits to parents won’t negatively impact their children is, frankly, living in either a fool’s world or a cruel and heartless one.

We are better than this. There are numerous ways to help low-income households help themselves get out of poverty and to do so respecting those families as worthy fellow citizens. I look forward to the day when our leaders will return our state to its traditions of basic decency and stop using our low-income neighbors as punching bags for political purposes.

Robert Jones

Madison