Mitt Romney released a new 30-second attack ad accusing President Obama of gutting" President Clintons bipartisan 1996 welfare reform law today. The ad titled Right Choice" will begin airing in key swing states and says:
In 1996 President Clinton and a bipartisan Congress helped end welfare as we know it. By requiring work for welfare. But on July 12th President Obama quietly announced a plan to gut welfare reform by dropping work requirements. Under Obamas plan you wouldnt have to work and wouldnt have to train for a job. They just send you your welfare check. And welfare to work goes back to being plain old welfare. Mitt Romney will restore the work requirement because it works.
Conservatives have been pushing for Romney to embrace this issue ever since The Heritage Foundations Robert Rector first broke the story on July 12th. Rector who worked with Republicans on the 1996 reform and watches the Department of Health and Human Services like a hawk noticed a new administration directive establishing that state administered work requirements created by the 1996 reforms could be ignored if the state first got a waiver from the Obama administration. Problem is while Congress did create a process for the Secretary to issue waivers for some welfare reform requirements Congress specifically excluded the work requirement from the Secretarys waiver authority. So not only is Obamas new welfare directive bad policy but it is also illegal.
The Obama administration insists that the new HHS memo merely gives states more flexibility to administer their welfare to work programs. They point to a 2005 letter signed by Republican governors including Romney asking for increased waiver authority." But that letter does not ask Congress to extend the waiver authority to the work requirement as Obama presumes to do. And as the Romney campaign points out Romney retained his states welfare work requirements when he was governor.
The invocation of President Clinton and bipartisan" welfare reform is no mistake either. Nothing in the Obama administration has been done a bipartisan basis. To the extent that voters do remember the 90s fondly this ad reminds them that Obama has repeatedly failed where Clinton succeeded.
Campaign 2012
Money: Romney and the Republican National Committee outraised Obama and the Democratic National Committee in July $101.3 million to $75 million.
Polls: Gallup reports that 9 percent of those who say they voted for Obama in 2008 are planning to vote for Romney this year. Only 5 percent of McCain voters say they are planning to vote for Obama.
Obama: Speaking at a fundraiser in Connecticut Obama called Romneys tax plan Robin Hood in reverse Romney Hood."
In Other News
The Wall Street Journal Fed Official Calls for Bond Buying: Eric Rosengren president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston called on the Fed to launch an aggressive open-ended bond buying program that the central bank would continue until economic growth picks up and unemployment starts falling again.
Fox News Illinois to Spend More on Pensions Than on Education: The state of Illinois faces at least $83 billion in unfunded liability between its five pension systems and is on track to spend more on its government pensions than on education by 2016 a new study released by Governor Pat Quinns office says.
Righty Playbook
The Washington Examiners Byron York reports 1099 felons illegally voted in the 2008 Minnesota Senate race a number greater than the margin if victory.
RedStates Erick Erickson urges conservatives to support Mark Neumann over Eric Hovde in the Wisconsin Senate race.
Timothy Taylor posts a chart showing that spending on entitlement programs like Medicare Medicaid and Social Security are crowding out spending on education and infrastructure.
Lefty PLaybook
The Washington Posts Richard Cohen says Harry Reid is practicing gutter politics" and adds For a long time its been difficult to believe anything he says. Now its impossible."
Talking Points Memos Sahil Kapur reports that Reid has no plans to stop lying about Romney.
Think Progresssays Romney is the one trying to deny veterans the right to vote in Ohio.
Mitt Romney released a new 30-second attack ad accusing President Obama of gutting" President Clintons bipartisan 1996 welfare reform law today. The ad titled Right Choice" will begin airing in key swing states and says:
In 1996 President Clinton and a bipartisan Congress helped end welfare as we know it. By requiring work for welfare. But on July 12th President Obama quietly announced a plan to gut welfare reform by dropping work requirements. Under Obamas plan you wouldnt have to work and wouldnt have to train for a job. They just send you your welfare check. And welfare to work goes back to being plain old welfare. Mitt Romney will restore the work requirement because it works.
Conservatives have been pushing for Romney to embrace this issue ever since The Heritage Foundations Robert Rector first broke the story on July 12th. Rector who worked with Republicans on the 1996 reform and watches the Department of Health and Human Services like a hawk noticed a new administration directive establishing that state administered work requirements created by the 1996 reforms could be ignored if the state first got a waiver from the Obama administration. Problem is while Congress did create a process for the Secretary to issue waivers for some welfare reform requirements Congress specifically excluded the work requirement from the Secretarys waiver authority. So not only is Obamas new welfare directive bad policy but it is also illegal.
The Obama administration insists that the new HHS memo merely gives states more flexibility to administer their welfare to work programs. They point to a 2005 letter signed by Republican governors including Romney asking for increased waiver authority." But that letter does not ask Congress to extend the waiver authority to the work requirement as Obama presumes to do. And as the Romney campaign points out Romney retained his states welfare work requirements when he was governor.
The invocation of President Clinton and bipartisan" welfare reform is no mistake either. Nothing in the Obama administration has been done a bipartisan basis. To the extent that voters do remember the 90s fondly this ad reminds them that Obama has repeatedly failed where Clinton succeeded.
Campaign 2012
Money: Romney and the Republican National Committee outraised Obama and the Democratic National Committee in July $101.3 million to $75 million.
Polls: Gallup reports that 9 percent of those who say they voted for Obama in 2008 are planning to vote for Romney this year. Only 5 percent of McCain voters say they are planning to vote for Obama.
Obama: Speaking at a fundraiser in Connecticut Obama called Romneys tax plan Robin Hood in reverse Romney Hood."
In Other News
The Wall Street Journal Fed Official Calls for Bond Buying: Eric Rosengren president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston called on the Fed to launch an aggressive open-ended bond buying program that the central bank would continue until economic growth picks up and unemployment starts falling again.
Fox News Illinois to Spend More on Pensions Than on Education: The state of Illinois faces at least $83 billion in unfunded liability between its five pension systems and is on track to spend more on its government pensions than on education by 2016 a new study released by Governor Pat Quinns office says.
Righty Playbook
The Washington Examiners Byron York reports 1099 felons illegally voted in the 2008 Minnesota Senate race a number greater than the margin if victory.
RedStates Erick Erickson urges conservatives to support Mark Neumann over Eric Hovde in the Wisconsin Senate race.
Timothy Taylor posts a chart showing that spending on entitlement programs like Medicare Medicaid and Social Security are crowding out spending on education and infrastructure.
Lefty PLaybook
The Washington Posts Richard Cohen says Harry Reid is practicing gutter politics" and adds For a long time its been difficult to believe anything he says. Now its impossible."
Talking Points Memos Sahil Kapur reports that Reid has no plans to stop lying about Romney.
Think Progresssays Romney is the one trying to deny veterans the right to vote in Ohio.
