FreedomWorks Announces Week-Long Campaign to Promote Welfare Reform

FreedomWorks today announced a week long campaign to promote welfare reform. The campaign, “Welfare Week: Solutions to Get America Working Again,” will begin on Monday, June 12 and last through Friday, June 16. The week will include a series of live streams with Members of Congress and policy experts on FreedomWorks’ Facebook page, grassroots events, and more.

“Congress has several policy initiatives on the agenda this year, but welfare reform is often overlooked as an area where a real, positive impact can be made to improve the lives of able-bodied, low-income Americans who participate in these programs,” said FreedomWorks President Adam Brandon. “Everyone agrees that we need a safety net to ensure that those who need help get it. But the welfare system, as it’s currently structured, traps people in poverty.”

Brandon recently authored an editorial at The Daily Caller entitled, “Don’t Trap the Poor in Payouts,” in which he noted that Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported that there are 5.7 million job openings in the United States. He hailed the past bipartisan work on welfare reform, pointing to the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996, which was approved by a Republican-controlled Congress and signed into law by a Democrat, President Bill Clinton, and the reform efforts in the states.

Additionally, Brandon explained that welfare reform efforts took a step back during the Obama administration when the Department of Health and Human Services, in direct violation of law, allowed states to opt-out of work requirements for food stamps. He also noted that most federal welfare programs lack work requirements, making this a prime opportunity for Congress and the Trump administration to address the issue.

“There is a moral case for welfare reform that we, as conservatives and libertarians, must make,” said Brandon. “We plan to take this week begin to educate our community of grassroots activists so they can effectively engage their representatives and senators. “As Sen. Mike Lee has said, ‘Poverty is not just the absence of money, but also the absence of opportunity.’ Congress must begin working on this issue and promote upward mobility for those who are seeking a better life for themselves, their families, and their communities,” he added.

FreedomWorks aims to educate, build, and mobilize the largest network of activists advocating the principles of smaller government, lower taxes, free markets, personal liberty and the rule of law. For more information, please visit www.FreedomWorks.org or contact Jason Pye at [email protected].