The poor in Kansas can now only withdraw $25 US per day from an ATM.

[deminks]

Last edited Thu Apr 16, 2015, 03:31 PM - Edit history (3)

Nevermind that they can't spend cash assistance on booze and cruises. That was not enough punishment. By golly, they can only withdraw $25/day. /sarcasm off.

http://cjonline.com/news/2015-04-16/gov-sam-brownback-signs-controversial-welfare-legislation

Gov. Sam Brownback signed into law Thursday legislation limiting Kansas welfare recipients to no more than $25 daily from an ATM and prohibiting families from spending that cash assistance on trips to swimming pools and movie theaters as well as casinos and liquor stores.

(snip)

“Child poverty and homelessness in Kansas are at record levels," said Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka. "Governor Brownback’s reckless economic experiment has significantly increased taxes on low-income Kansans. And, now, the governor has signed a punitive and highly judgmental piece of legislation that imposes illogical reforms that make it harder for Kansans in need to break the cycle and climb out of poverty."

(end snip)

Another element of the bill:

One element of the bill has drawn criticism for being anti-family. If a person is found to commit benefits fraud, that person and other adults living in the same home would be banned for life from receiving public assistance dollars. Critics say this provision would penalize people for being married if one spouse abuses the system without the other’s knowledge.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/government-politics/article18674886.html#storylink=cpy

So, if you go swimming and are caught using cash assistance, then you and every other adult in the house are banned for life. Jesus, Mary and Joseph.



Yet another element of the bill:

Shannon Cotsoradis, president of the advocacy group Kansas Action for Children, said that the bill does more than just restrict where welfare recipients can spend their money. She highlighted that the legislation would require a woman to return to work shortly after having a baby in order to keep her assistance and that the bill makes it more difficult to qualify for childcare assistance.

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article18673983.html#storylink=cpy

What war on women? What war on the poor? What war on the elderly? What war on the veterans?



OMG - what the bill does not ban spending for:

Interestingly, the bill does not bar TANF recipients from buying guns and ammunition with their welfare checks. The spokesperson for the Kansas Department of Children and Families said that TANF checks are meant to be spent on necessities – and defended the exemption for weapons on the grounds that if they are needed to protect a family in a “dangerous neighborhood” or to hunt for food, they could be considered a necessity.

- See more at: http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2015/04/16/Welfare-Crackdown-Kansas-Bans-Cruises-Poor#sthash.GT1qni6b.dpuf

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

1. HUH?

So the fridge is empty, you are waiting for the money, and when it comes, you can only withdraw $25? This is ridiculous.

[trotsky]

4. Keep in mind, these idiots CANNOT accept that their economic philosophy is broken.

So all they have is what Reagan invented: the myth of the welfare queen. Blame the poor for being poor. People are poor because they're lazy. They're poor because they don't spend their money properly. And on and on. It's disgusting.

[Anansi1171]

27. It is THEY who deserve the dustbin of history!-nt

[JimDandy]

45. Purchases at Point of Sale machines in grocery stores were not limited

Only cash withdrawals from ATMS were limited to $25 (which is still awful).

[notadmblnd]

53. or they could go by a gun and shoot themselves some food

[Art_from_Ark]

66. And if they get really lucky,

while they're shooting at some food, up through the ground will come a-bubblin' crude

[KT2000]

2. how can they pay bills

such as rent and utilities?
I hope someone puts together a class action lawsuit.

[hlthe2b]

7. The only way one can begin to get ahead on groceries & household necessities...

is to buy in bulk and have certain staples on hand.

This is beyond ugly and indefensible.

[jwirr]

37. You just hit on what I want to know - why has no one taken these laws to court? These are mostly

federally funded programs and they have federal guidelines. Surely this stuff is not legal. If I could only withdraw $25 a day there would be a charge each time I used the ATM machine and I would be even poorer.

And friends who live in Kansas in 2016 GOTV. These people need to go.

[Sanity Claws]

3. ATMs I know allow withdrawals in increments of $20 only

So they are really limited to withdrawing $20 per day.

[jberryhill]

5. $20 + the fee

[deminks]

8. You are right. I hadn't even thought about that.

I can't get past the legislature and governator setting limits to what they can withdraw.

[RiverNoord]

24. The whole thing is an absurd obscenity.

The law also prohibits TANF funds from being spent on cruise ships. Not a single legislator had an example of this ever happening.

A bunch of total bastards really embracing their evil natures.

[Electric Monk]

10. The extra $5 is to cover the service fee for each withdrawal

How is this not simply a gift to the banks in the form of an extra tax on the poor?

[Lifelong Protester]

13. Good point, I hadn't even thought of that

it IS an extra tax on the poor.

[Orsino]

20. The extra ATM fees are the kickback the banksters receive.

They are on Welfare.

[treestar]

30. The banks have to do the work though

Who pays for that - we all do in fees for the additional, I guess it's IT work.

The banks have say a $200 daily limit. To make that different for some people, they have to make a program that determines who is "poor" and have the ATM programmed to have a different limit for the Poor vs. Everyone Else.

[Electric Monk]

33. You don't think they charge more than it costs per transaction? They make profit off it. nt

[treestar]

59. That's what I said, the other customers will pay too

as they'll be the ones paying for the technology.

[Electric Monk]

61. You are advocating overcharging the poor to subsidize the middle and upper classes? Seriously? nt

[treestar]

62. What?

I was merely observing that companies pass their costs on to customers. Geez!

The poster below you had knowledge and explained it more, however.

[ET Awful]

47. It's slightly different than the way you state it. . .

The issuer of the card sets the daily limit, not the bank where the withdrawal is made (although they may have a maximum limit per transaction).

For instance, my bank sets a limit of $400 per day. This is set on the card when issued. I can go to one bank and withdraw $300, go to another and be declined if I try to withdraw an additional $300. It's not the bank where the transaction takes place that sets the limit, it's the issuer.

The ONLY ones who benefit from this are the banks themselves. The additional fees have nothing to do with IT work, and there is no programming in the ATM that sets a different limit for x vs. y.

The programming that sets limits, etc. was done long ago, it's done the same way credit card limits are set.

Much like credit card transaction fees paid by merchants on each transaction, these fees are pure profit at this point. Any IT overhead has long since been paid.

Hell, it makes more sense to charge a fee for working with a live teller (who is actually an ongoing cost for the bank) than for an ATM (which receives 30 minutes of attention a day to restock the bills and remove the deposits).

[treestar]

60. Could they set different limits for different people then

by putting it on their cards somehow? If it follows the card, then the card would have to somehow be programmed with the limit. Then how to get the information to the card maker that the person is "poor?"

[ET Awful]

64. As I said, it's set by the card issuer.

Of course it's different for different accounts, just as it is with credit cards.

The issuer of the card can change the limit any time.

My point is that the limit is NOT set by programming the ATM by but by the issuer.

The agency (bank, state, whoever) issuing the card can set the limit to whatever they want.

[Bluenorthwest]

50. Most banks don't have a standard limit. Some folks have higher cash caps than others, some have

none at all. They already make it different for each and every account.

[Art_from_Ark]

65. Someone should change this a bit

to read "Pay $5 each week"

[hatrack]

70. That's exactly what it is and all it's ever been - a bank giveaway in drag

It's a way to shovel more money to banks, while hating Teh Poorz, and letting the GOP-voting flatulent self-righteous of the Sunflower State feel just a little bit more self-righteous.

[snooper2]

6. Is this dipshit trying to get the title from Mississippi as shittiest state in the country?

[Comrade Grumpy]

11. Kansas has been trying very hard for years.

[upaloopa]

9. Hopefully these folks wake the hell up and vote

the repubs out of office.

[atreides1]

19. Really

Who do you think put them into office and re-elected Brownback? And I'm willing to bet he has the unlimited support of all the religious fanatics that populate the state of Kansas...whether they be Catholic, Baptist, Seventh Day Adventist...all of the delusional f**ks that worship at the base of an instrument of torture and death!!!

They hate the poor, they hate those in need, without realizing it they've been manipulated to hate the very people that Christ wanted them to love...

[tridim]

22. My Kansas parents are non-religious and they vote Republican every time.

It's about doing exactly what your neighbor does, not religion.

[upaloopa]

28. Some times republican ideology looks just

like a religion to me. It is taken on faith even though there is proof it doesn't work. They talk about a Kansas miracle as the state economy goes to hell!

[F4lconF16]

39. It is absolutely about religion as well.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/123038761

[Jerry442]

55. And I say unto thee,

..when thou art sore afflicted with hunger and want, seek out those who art yet more sorely afflicted than thee and smite them and cast stones upon them so that their hurts are grievous and their laments are heard throughout the land. Therefore wilt they be led unto virtue.

[Lifelong Protester]

12. so if you are poor, no swimming lessons? (many are at a pool)

No pool birthday parties? (That's popular here, especially in the winter-they go to a local motel with a pool that charges a fee per swimmer)/

[deminks]

15. Not in Brownbackistan. If you are poor and want to go swimming, get a job, GOPers say.

What they don't understand in their feverish frenzy to stem the tide of the heathen poor is that many if not most of them are working.

[RedCappedBandit]

14. Pathetic.

[daredtowork]

16. Why hasn't Kansas started a Recall movement yet? nt

[jeff47]

21. Because they just reelected him. (nt)

[tridim]

23. Because most Kansans like what Brownback and the Kochs are doing.

Thank you sirs, may we have another?

[RiverNoord]

25. My brother lives in Wichita.

I've been to the damn Charles Koch Arena a couple of times for graduation ceremonies - can't believe it. When I ask about it the response is that he's a big benefactor in the area...

[stevenleser]

17. Propaganda designed to shift attention away from Brownback's massive economic failures. nt

[questionseverything]

32. clinton originally signed the law limiting how long poor peops can draw cash assistance

brownback has now made it shorter....

The bill, which was crafted by DCF, also sets a lifetime limit on TANF eligibility at 36 months, compared with the limit of five years under federal law.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/government-politics/article18674886.html#storylink=cpy

but before clinton poor mother's had a minimum income..cash assistance

[ananda]

18. Poor shaming and blaming for their own ills.

I really hate what Reeps are doing these days.

They have lost their hearts and minds.

[RiverNoord]

26. Anyone who would vote for something like this

never had what most people would consider 'hearts' to lose in the first place.

[treestar]

29. How do they plan to enforce that?

Setting aside it is none of their business and a mean and stupid law, how do the banks cooperate?

[deminks]

31. This is Brownbackistan.

I am sure they and the banks are salivating over ideas of how to enforce this.

[deminks]

34. kick for the updates. nt

[Spitfire of ATJ]

35. Republicans should ALL be grilled about their support of this.

[frylock]

36. Kansas has fast become a third world shithole..

sorry, Kansas DUers.

[KansDem]

46. Hey! I resemble that remark!

sorry, Kansas DUers...

[frylock]

57. stay strong!

I really do feel badly for my fellow libs over there. I grew up in East County San Diego, and was rep'd by Duncan Hunter for too many years. I can totally empathize.

[americannightmare]

38. And how...

does this help their economy?

[abelenkpe]

40. Wait, poor kids can't learn to swim?

And 25 dollars a day?

And these programs are all temporary assistance?

How could anyone work their way out of homelessness or bankruptcy or poverty of any sort in such a system? Or survive?

This is in effect now?

OMG, they're not even allowed to report or advertise that TANF and SNAP programs are available in the state. Sounds like an effort to encourage needy people to leave the state. Is that too cynical of me?

[Eleanors38]

41. What happens when there is no opposition.

[byronius]

42. Stupid and Cruel, like everything conservative.

BTW, don't forget that most of that money comes from Blue States. Kansas can't pay for anything anymore without help from California.

What do they call that -- oh yeah, codependency. Left to themselves, Kansas dies as a state. Because conservatism is parasitism.

[deminks]

44. The bill WILL allow the poor to buy guns and ammo. See the added link above.

We are all safe now. /sarcasm off.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

48. Maybe they can get their chauffeurs to do it for them when they service the Rolls.

Y'know. All those "welfare queens" with 18 kids living in luxury in Beverly Hills and spending their food stamps on Lobster Thermidor while the downtrodden, hardworking, salt-of-the-earth, millionaires dig through dumpsters for their lunch.

[truebrit71]

49. Are they Dickensian fetishists in Kansas?

What a bunch of total, fucking bastards....

[asjr]

51. Governor BrownNose wants to be King!

[KamaAina]

58. That's a new one!

I'd heard "Brownshirt" and Throwback", but not "BrownNose".

[SoapBox]

52. Why doesn't he just kill them?

Seems that is about how evil the guy and his ilk are...the way they treat Americans...disgraceful.

[ErikJ]

54. Probably helps the compulsive spenders though.

I work with a transexual ex-con that gets a chunk of money the 1st part of the month and immediately goes on frivolous shopping spreess at the mall requiring a helper to haul the bags. He/she canNOT control her spending! Buys everything she likes. Real fashion hog.
Its all gone within a few days after she also pays back friends some of the money who lent her survival money for the rest of the month. She admits she needs SOMEBODY to help her budget her $. Its a real mental problem.

[gollygee]

56. So if you live in an area where you need a car

and your car breaks down and you can't go to work unless you get it fixed, even if it's a cheap repair, you can't just pay for the repair and get back to work.

[roamer65]

63. Typical Rethug scumsuckers.

They want to make sure abortion is damn near illegal, then zero support for the kid once it is born.

[woo me with science]

67. K&R Corporate America: Predators and Prey.

[marble falls]

68. This law only helps the banks get more fees from the poor.

[Mr Dixon]

69. SMH

Last edited Mon Apr 20, 2015, 09:55 AM - Edit history (1)

It’s peculiar how they pass laws affecting those people with the least yet turn a blind eye to the rich completely.