Should Recipients Of “Stimulus” Welfare Checks Be Disclosed?
That’s the question being asked by Kansas Watchdog, which requested the names of 10,847 individuals in Kansas who got $500 checks through the TANF (welfare) program funded by “stimulus” spending.
State officials in Kansas are refusing to disclose the list. Should they?
I think they should. With government money comes public scrutiny. The taxpayer right to now how their money is being spent trumps the desire of welfare recipients not to have their names listed on a welfare roll. And given how lax our state governments and federal government has been when it comes to accountability in spending this “stimulus” money, this sort of transparency is more important in this instance than before.
The folks at Kansas Watchdog asked state officials how many jobs this “stimulus” spending may have created. Their answer? “We have not estimated the number of jobs created or saved through the one-time payment.”
Welfare isn’t economic stimulus.
Tags: Economy, jobs, kansas, Stimulus, tanf, welfare
