Stiffing the poor

Sneaky legislators cut cash assistance program

A social program that benefits the poorest of the poor in Pennsylvania is being slashed and the dirty deed was done with sneaky deftness.

Now, 11,000 people, most of whom are unable to work due to health problems, are pinning their feeble hopes for financial salvation — and those, indeed, are the stakes — on the success of a lawsuit challenging the legality of the move.

The General Assistance program provides a monthly benefit of about

$ 205 to participants. Cutting it will save Pennsylvania a whopping $ 50 million annually. To put that into context, the commonwealth’s generalfund budget is about $ 34 billion. That comes out to less than $ 4 annually for each of Pennsylvania’s 12.7 million residents. Who wouldn’t give up one specialty coffee drink annually to help a neighbor in need?

Apparently, state legislators voted to eliminate the program during the state budget process — legislators who sneakily tied it to hospital funding, making it politically difficult for Gov. Tom Wolf to veto, though the governor had said earlier he supported the General Assistance program.

It’s a messed- up system that allows this kind of backdoor maneuver.

A lawsuit has been filed in Commonwealth Court by Community Legal Services and Disability Rights Pennsylvania. The advocacy groups contend that combining the unrelated issues into a single bill is unconstitutional.

If it isn’t, it should be. And whether it is or isn’t, it is immoral.

Recipients of cash assistance are, by and large, unhealthy people who are unable to work and who are seeking assistance from our dysfunctional and delay- ridden federal Social Security Administration, which administers Supplemental Security Income. It’s a process that can take months if not years and often requires an appeal. The cash assistance is a bridge that can help to pay a utility bill or cover transportation to a doctor appointment. Those who qualify for the cash assistance program may receive government help in the form of medical assistance and food stamps, but neither of those programs pays for laundry soap or toilet paper or a bus ride.

Cutting the program — a true fiscal safety net — leaves the few who qualify for it virtually penniless. The impact extends beyond those awaiting a disability determination. It affects youths who have aged out of the foster care system and who are not yet on their feet financially, and women fleeing domestic violence who have yet to secure employment.

This travesty is the handiwork of Pennsylvania’s Republican lawmakers who control the House and Senate and who claim they are concerned about oversight and accountability. Yet they knew that what happened before would happen again: The program was cut in 2012 then restored in 2018 after years of legal battling reached the state Supreme Court, which ruled the mechanism used to cut the program was unconstitutional. And now, its déjà vu all over again. Truly a waste of taxpayer money.

To those lawmakers who fought with such vim and vigor to land another blow to Pennsylvania’s poorest, think about this while sipping the next $ 4 grande latte from your favorite barista: “A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members,” said Mahatma Ghandi.

Some legislators are trying to whip support for an emergency relief bill. Anyone with a conscience should sign on.