President: Rae Chornenky
Editor: Maria Jeffrey
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101 Million Americans Received Food Aid Last Year
U. S. Department of Agriculture statistics show nearly one-third of Americans received government-funded food aid in 2012. With roughly a dozen federal food assistance programs operating today, 59 percent of American households participate in one of the four largest food assistance programs - food stamps, school breakfasts, school lunches, and WIC - and end up receiving benefits from two or more programs.
In general, the federal government funds roughly 80 welfare programs including 12 educational assistance programs and 11 housing assistance programs at a cost of nearly $1 trillion a year.
For decades, the federal government has been pouring taxpayer dollars into an increasing number of welfare programs in an attempt to tackle poverty. Yet this system has proven ineffective at helping individuals and families reach self-sufficiency.
The size of today's welfare system clearly demonstrates the need for both opportunity-based economic policies and critical positive reforms to promote self-sufficiency through work, personal responsibility and human dignity.
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About The REINS Act
"All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives." U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section I.
Many believe that, in the case of the most burdensome federal regulations, excessive delegation to the Executive Branch of Congress' constitutional responsibility for making the law of the land has taken place.
To restore Congressional accountability for the regulatory process, the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act will be debated this week in the House. The REINS Act would require Congress to take an up-or-down, stand-alone vote and for the president to sign off on all new major rules before they can be enforced on the American people, job-creating small businesses or State and local governments.
Major rules would be defined as those that have an annual economic impact of $100 million or more. Last year, 100 such major rules were finalized by the Executive Branch.
A recent study commissioned by the Small Business Administration found that annual regulatory compliance costs in the United States hit $1.75 trillion in 2008. A staggering figure when compared to the total collected from income taxes that year ($1.449 trillion).
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The House Struggles With Immigration Reform
It was reported by The Hill that a bipartisan House group appears ready to release its 500+ page comprehensive immigration reform proposal but, after four years of secretive talks, the seven members left in the group are resisting releasing their bill to avoid seeing it rejected by more conservative members who would prefer to first vote on border security enforcement measures. It is said that the House group wants to frame their legislation as a middle ground between the more liberal Senate bill and other partisan proposals on stricter border security and enforcement. Thus far, House Republicans have gravitated toward the piecemeal enforcement--the first approach outlined by House leadership. While one Democrat group member has stated the bill includes a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, Republicans in the group characterize the provision in the bill as a pathway to legal status. Regardless, the bill's process is two years longer and more arduous than the one proposed in the Senate bill.
The effort has already won the support of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Speaker John Boehner has encouraged the group's work but has not yet taken a position on the bill. The group's work has been endorsed by Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI), who has kept in close contact with members of the group's negotiators and has supported their efforts in public and in private.
Since House leadership has announced that no action on immigration legislation will be taken until the fall, the group offering the bill now has more time to work on closely reviewing the text, resolving disputes, and building support. As it stands, five different individual immigration bills have passed out of the House Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees. In addition, House leadership recently issued a statement recommitting to a "step-by-step" approach to immigration reform which could mean that the bipartisan group's comprehensive bill could be split into pieces.
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