Lawmakers advance welfare work requirements

MADISON – Lawmakers on Tuesday advanced bills from Gov. Scott Walker that could get more welfare recipients working at a cost to taxpayers of nearly $90 million a year.

The Assembly Committee on Public Benefit Reform approved all the proposals Tuesday on party-line votes of 5-3, with all Republicans voting in favor and all Democrats against.

A panel in the Senate also approved two of the bills Tuesday, with senators taking their votes by private ballot rather than in an open committee meeting. Republicans approved those two bills on party-line 3-2 votes.

Walker and GOP lawmakers have said the bills will shift more welfare recipients into the workforce at a time when unemployment is at the historic low of 3%. Critics say the bills will be costly to implement and less effective than using the money for programs such as training for workers or public transportation to get them to jobs.

In addition to the continuing costs, the bills would also require millions of dollars in start-up costs.

Walker is pushing for a series of welfare bills, including requiring able-bodied parents of children on food stamps to work or get training to receive more than three months of benefits and increasing the existing work requirement for all able-bodied adults from 20 hours a week to 30.