UJM: If the welfare reform proposals of the most conservative members of Congress were adopted, federal welfare payments (housing/SNAP (aka “food stamps) tax credits etc. would be consolidated into an income-based block grant program with work requirements and caps for the number of “additional dependents” that can be added to each family unit until they have established their ability to reduce “long-term dependency”. While these proposal (which are unlikely to ever be adopted) were crudely targeting long-held stereotypes of generational welfare recipients in the minority community, there is no “carve-out” for ehrliche yidden in certain communities which actually have the highest welfare dependency ratios in New York State.
The issue of taxpayer subsidies to certain political subdivisions in NYS has been a political third rail for decades as these communities vote in a block. I’m not sure it would affect “wide swaths” of yidden but the notion of delaying the start of a family or linking your family’s growth to your ability to pay for their food, school, housing etc. is a highly sensitiive issue and goes well beyond “shidduchim” at ANY age.
This is not a thread on welfare reform policy so I’ll stop here.
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