Letter to the Editor: Reader scolds others for not backing up comments

I can't pass up commenting on Gerald Ray’s letter (of last week). He never even looked the report up! I have attached it.

So what is a poverty income?

Whenever I copy information from the Internet which I want to pass on to a friend, I type the http:// address as a reference on the page. I learned this in college. Here is an example: http://budget.senate.gov/republican/public/index.cfm/budget-background? is where you will find this misleading statement by the Senate Budget Committee: “Based on data from the Congressional Research Service, cumulative spending on means-tested federal welfare programs, if converted into cash, would equal $167.65 per day per household living below the poverty level.”

This report is saying that, if converted into cash, the cost of the total federal welfare programs could provide $167.65 a day for families living below the poverty level.

Fact: No one got $167.65 a day from welfare programs.

Fact: No one can make almost as much by being dependent upon our government. (A lifelong working person will always make more income than anyone on welfare.)

Fact: No able-bodied person can stay on any welfare program forever or for years. (Adults residing in a household must also meet work requirements as outlined by the program.)

Here is a list of all the Federal welfare programs: Unemployment insurance, home-buying assistance, rental assistance, Earned Income Tax Credit, WIC, Child Tax Credit, federal college student loans, Pell Grants, Low Income Energy Assistance, school breakfast and lunches for children from low-income families. The child-support program can supplement partial child care fees or provide 100% fee assistance. Head Start for pre-kindergartners, the Job Corps training program, Americorps, the Appalachian Regional Commission; Urban development block grants; Title I education grants that help schools in low-income areas; empowerment zones, which typically benefit businesses as well as communities, and health-care spending, under Medicaid.

Fact: Millions of people above the poverty level also receive these benefits.

So what is a poverty income? The 2013 Poverty Guideline is at: http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/13poverty.cfm. A one-person household income at $11,490 is 100 percent at the poverty level. A Family of four is at poverty level with an income of $23,550 a year. In 2013, a family of five consisting of a father, mother, two related children under age eighteen and an aunt to those children could jointly earn up to $25,570 and still be considered “poor” by the official poverty measure. Programs using the guidelines (or percentage multiples of the guidelines – for instance, 125 percent or 185 percent of the guidelines) in determining eligibility include Head Start, the Food Stamp Program, the National School Lunch Program, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Example at: http://www.snap-help.com/state/WA.

Households must have a gross monthly income at or below 130 percent of the Federal poverty guidelines. After allowable deductions, a household’s monthly net income should be 100 percent or less of the Federal poverty guidelines in order to be eligible for SNAP. Finally, adults residing in a household must also meet work requirements as outlined by the program.

I can back up my facts and comments, can you?

Karen Brooks

Odessa