Brownback is probably one of the worst Governors Kansas has ever had. His policies are not just cost cutting measures, some seem aimed at making life as hard as possible for poor people and people suffering from disabilities.
According to The Wichita Eagle;
“Advocates for the poorest Kansas residents say Gov. Sam Brownback's administration is making it tougher for the state's needy to rise out of poverty by cutting much-needed assistance.”
According to The Kansas City Star;
“Ever since Brownback campaigned for governor in 2010, the conservative Republican has declared that lifting children out of poverty is a priority. But advocates for the poor argue that under Brownback's administration needy residents are being cast adrift and that the coming years will be even worse.”
According to The Wichita Eagle advocates for the poor said they are afraid to criticize these policies because if retribution from state agencies. Apparently our new Kansas Republican leaders fear freedom of speech from their advocates. They seem to want to turn this state into a Tea Party Republican dictatorship. Advocates for the poor have called Brownback’s new policies "vindictive," mean" and "heartless."
Brownback and his crew seem to want to punish poor and disabled people as much as possible. There seems to be a real contempt by this government for poor people.
According to The Wichita Eagle;
“Roughly 384,000 Kansans, or 13.8 percent of the state's population, live at or below the poverty line, which is $23,050 a year for a family of four. That number has risen by nearly 80,000 people since before the recession began in 2008. Of those, 34,000 were children, whose poverty rate has increased from 14.5 percent to nearly 19 percent.
Sweeping Brownback-supported changes in May eliminated income taxes for an estimated 191,000 small businesses, but took away longstanding tax breaks for child- and dependent-care expenses and money spent on food taxes that helped a combined 430,000 Kansans.
Before that, another policy eliminated food stamps to the families of 2,200 Kansas children, all of whom are U.S. citizens, because some income in their homes came from family members who were in the country illegally.
Perhaps the most notable statistics involve Temporary Aid to Needy Families, also known as welfare.
TANF cash assistance averages about $280 a month and goes to those whose annual incomes are no greater than 28 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $6,500 a year for a family of four.
About 39,000 severely poor Kansans were receiving TANF when Brownback took office. After his administration instituted stricter rules, about 38 percent of those participants - or nearly 15,000 of them - were cut off.”
Brownback’s plan for KanCare, which just started this January, is sure to be more added hardships on those who need disabilities. The governor refused to expand Medicaid under the federal health care overhaul, which is likely to leave 120,000 to 140,000 low-income residents without any insurance.
KanCare is the privatization of a program designed for the needy and disabled or sick people who can’t work. Apparently Brownback figures he can not only save money, but his friends in the medical insurance business can profit off the misery of others.
Medicaid has been replaced the three companies that provide health care to the disabled and poor. Just how are these companies going to profit off of people who either can’t or are not presently working? Chances are they will do what insurance companies do now—charge people money they don’t really have, and refuse any medicine or procedure that “they believe are unnecessary” and a lot of people with serious medical conditions will just have to die off or suffer unnecessary illnesses for the sake of saving the state all that extra income.
According to Brownback, this new program will save the state close to $500 million over five years. It will likely cost people their lives, or cause unnecessary suffering for certain ill people. Brownback seems to care a lot more about the money than people’s lives.
Brownback told The Wichita Eagle that many of these new changes are designed to encourage poor people to go out and look for jobs. Has he ever went around this state looking for a job?
A lot of my friends have and jobs just aren’t that plentiful. If Brownback really believes all that crap he spouts, he is nothing more than a mean-spirited imbecile. Maybe he hopes to run all the poor and disabled out of Kansas? He’s on the right track if that is his plan. -សតិវ អតុ
From KSAL
IF I only had a Brane!
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