State Budget

5 Scary Facts about Pennsylvania’s Welfare Spending

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • February 29, 2012

Welfare spending in Pennsylvania is out of control. The Department of Public Welfare is now the largest department in the state. It will continue to crowd out education, environmental…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

Report Finds Pennsylvania Welfare System Unsustainable, Hurting Poor

  • February 16, 2012

The Commonwealth Foundation released today an alarming new report on Pennsylvania public welfare that finds widespread abuse of tax dollars, with spending growing faster than the economy and exceeding education…

Press Release

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Health Care

Ending the Cycle: Reforming Welfare in Pennsylvania

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • February 16, 2012

Government welfare, with its goal to provide a helping hand to those in need, has instead become a vast series of programs that fall far short of the good intentions…

Report

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Taxes & Economy

SNAP Back to Reality, Senators

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • January 24, 2012

Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Senate Democrats’ Twitter, @PaSenateDems, comes some high-stakes rhetoric during a Capitol press conference today. In reaction to the Pa. Department of Public Welfare’s decision to reapply…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

Welfare Reforms Protect Poor, Taxpayers

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • January 24, 2012

Regardless of where you stand on taxpayer-funded entitlements, few Americans argue against the maintenance of temporary safety nets or modifications aimed at ending welfare fraud, waste and abuse.

Commentary

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Taxes & Economy

Do Millionaires Need Food Stamps?

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • January 11, 2012

For the past few years, politicians in Harrisburg and Washington have considered it a “success” to put more families on welfare. The result is an abundance of loopholes that allow…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

100,000+ Improperly Get Pa. Med Benefits

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • October 27, 2011

Yesterday, the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare testified that hundreds of thousands of individuals were improperly receiving Medicaid, taxpayer-funded health care for the poor and the disabled. Capitolwire writes:…

Media

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Welfare

Welfare Funds for Home Bowling Alley

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • September 29, 2011

What do bowling alleys, chandeliers, and six-person hot tubs have in common? They’ve all been purchased with state welfare funds. Yesterday Tim Costa, executive deputy secretary of the Department of…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

Welfare Fraud Persists

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • August 12, 2011

The LIHEAP heating assistance program is once again under fire from Auditor General Jack Wagner. A 2007 audit lead the district attorney of Philadelphia to charge 18 people with…

Media

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