Republicans in the Maine Senate have passed their version of welfare reform legislation that would ban the purchase of lottery tickets, alcohol, tobacco and other items with cash welfare assistance. But its future is uncertain because of continuing partisan conflict over some key provisions.
Majorities in both parties are supporting the ban on purchases of certain items using the cash benefits offered through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. But there is some dispute over how penalties would be assessed.
The Republican proposal would suspend TANF benefits for a year for the first violation. A second offense would bring a two-year loss, and a third strike would mean a lifetime ban on benefits.
Sen. Nate Libby, a Democrat from Lewiston, says even a one-year suspension of benefits, with a value of $4,800, is too severe.
“And that person would actually be better off stealing that package of cigarettes than paying for it, because the penalty is much softer,” he says.
Libby’s proposal would set the penalty for a first violation as restitution to the TANF program of the value of the purchase, the second offense would bring a suspension of up to a three monthS, and any subsequent violations would lead to as much as a six-month suspension.
But Sen. Andre Cushing, a Republican from Newport, says it’s clear that stiff penalties are needed to clean up the program.
“The concern I have is that we are now facing the reality with the data before us that there have been abuses,” he says.
The parties also differ on a provision that would ban the use of the electronic benefit transfer cards with TANF benefits outside of Maine. Republicans would limit their use to Maine and New Hampshire.
Sen. Eric Brakey, a Republican from Auburn, says system records indicate some questionable uses of TANF cash in states far from Maine.
“At the minimum, out-of-state spending in places like Florida, Hawaii, California and Las Vegas suggest some cash welfare recipients are not using their taxpayer-funded benefits to return to work,” he says.
But Portland Sen. Anne Haskell, a Democrat, says there are many reasons why a person on TANF might be out of state. They could be visiting a sick parent, for example, and she says since TANF is funded by the federal government, any move to restrict where those benefits are used could face a legal challenge.
“There is potential for a constitutional challenge here on the right to travel and the burden on interstate commerce,” she says. “Those things are real, those things have been brought in other states.”
The bill faces more votes in both the Senate and the House, and if the parties can’t reach a compromise, it could result in no changes to the program.
