RepRichCebra's Blog

Bureaucrats Battling Back Against Welfare Reform

By Rep. Rich Cebra

On Tuesday, March 31, in a legislative committee room in Augusta, citizens gathered to support a bill before the Joint Standing Committee on Health and Human Services. That bill was LD 254, “An Act to Enact a 5 point Welfare Reform Plan.”

The idea behind the bill, without delving into too much detail, is to place reasonable restrictions on Maine’s open-ended welfare system. One provision, for instance, would establish a residency requirement to make sure recipients have actually lived in Maine for at least 90 days before they start collecting our tax dollars. Another provision would place a lifetime limit of five years on benefits so that people don’t spend a lifetime on the dole. That would put Maine in sync with provisions of the Welfare Reform Act of 1996, a landmark achievement of President Bill Clinton.

I sponsored this bill for several reasons. Over the last five years I have surveyed my House district several times. On each survey I have included a question on welfare, and each time the overwhelming response has been to place reasonable restrictions on welfare. Surveys from other legislators have produced similar results.

Two years ago I was a co-sponsor on an identical bill. That effort got the discussion started but fell short because the majority party circled the wagons to protect the bloated government that they’ve created. They believe government can and should be all things to all people forever. Any attempt to slow down the growth of their huge bureaucracy is met with agonizing cries of doom and a heavy-handed blow to the hardworking taxpayers of Maine.

LD 254 is no exception. I was proud to sponsor this legislation not just because of the contents of the bill but because something has happened over the last few weeks to recharge my belief in the people of Maine. Citizens of our state are becoming energized by political events that seem out of control and by an upcoming state budget that is facing a shortfall potentially as big as $1.5 billion. In the spirit of the times, I will double my efforts to fight against our oversized state bureaucracy that is controlled by entrenched lobbyists whose special interests are keeping government big, costly and inefficient.

At the public hearing for LD 254 dozens of Mainers from all over the state assembled in the committee room to testify and support the bill. The committee heard passionate testimony from Maine citizens in favor of the bill and received over 100 written testimonies from hard-working Mainers who couldn’t take time off to get to Augusta.

When it came time for the opposition to speak, the testimony came from state employees at the Department of Health and Human Services, the gigantic department that handles welfare, Medicaid and the countless “safety net” programs. They were joined by lobbyists from agencies that make their living off of keeping things just the way that they are. There was a stark difference between the proponents and opponents – between the Mainers who supply the tax dollars and the bureaucrats who fiercely resist any attempt at reform.

The bill will come up for a vote before the Legislature in the coming weeks. That vote will show the people of Maine exactly who is working hard for them and who is working hard for the lobbyists and special interests that have controlled our state for too long.

Another bill that I sponsored, LD 194, would have required an independent audit of state government every four years. The bill would have given us an independent picture of where our tax dollars are going. At the public hearing for that bill you would have thought I was trying to destroy the world. Government employees from several departments, including the State Auditor’s office, testified that there was no need for an outside audit and that everything in state government was just fine. This is a classic example of the fox guarding the chicken coop. Special interests and big government spokespeople won the day with committee members, who were all too happy to keep the public in the dark about government’s shenanigans. There’s a reason why Democrats refer to state government as “the family business.”

Our republic was founded on the principle that government derives its power from the people and not the other way around. Reading the testimony and seeing the involved group of citizens testifying in favor of LD 254 showed me that there is still hope. If citizens get involved in their government, we can take it back from the entrenched special interests and put it on a more sustainable course. It may not happen soon, but the battle has been joined and with every small defeat our efforts should be intensified. This state belongs to the people, not the government. I look forward to keeping up the fight.