The Kansas legislature, through Senate Sub for HB2258, has made it harder to remain stuck in poverty.  Not by providing more resources to the poor, but by taking more away.
Eliminating and narrowing definitions of who is qualified to receive Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) means fewer people will be able to take part, and the help will be less generous than ever before.
It’s going to shake things up for the working poor, the trying to work poor, the can’t work poor and the not willing to work poor, pretty much across the board.
Some will say this is awful, but perhaps it’s not.  What’s being taken away is anonymous aid from the government.  Non-governmental aid, the bill’s supplemental note points out, is not subject to these new expectations.
Perhaps its time for people all over Kansas to reach out in a personal way to their fellow man, instead of assuming some governmental program will do it for them.  Its something Kansas is especially equipped to do.  Our state shines in one spectacular way.  We are kind and we volunteer—a lot.  And not just our adult workers and retirees.  Our kids stand out for volunteering.  USD 428 Superintendent Brad Reed pointed to a national survey at a recent board meeting that puts Kansas kids at the top of the heap.
Those who are less well-off need us to notice what they’re going through, to reach out, to encourage, and to help.  Not by paying more in taxes to fund programs.  They need us to connect with them in human ways.
Despite the back and forth rhetoric of the right and the left, some good will come of this, if Governor Sam Brownback signs it into law, which he is expected to do today.  It will be up to us to decide.
One other not-so-obvious positive is the bill provides a vehicle to allow the poor to vote. It gives recipients the option of having their photo placed on their EBT cards, and the state will recognize it as a valid photo ID.  It takes some guts to take away with one hand, and provide a means for payback with the other.