Ebt 0226_ebt One of the Senate Republicans signature issues this year has been the push to stop

what they call welfare abuse with a bill to prohibit the use of benefit cards pay for alcohol and tobacco, or to be used at liquor stores, casinos and strip clubs. While such a measure has been passed in the Senate before, there was added urgency this year. Thats because the federal government set a Feb. 22 deadline for states to offer a plan to crack down on welfare abuse. If not, they could lose funding through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. In New York, $120 million was at risk if the state didnt comply.

Thus it was no surprise last weekend, as the deadline approached, that Republicans blasted the Democratic-led Asssembly which never brought the welfare crackdown to a vote. The Assembly Majoritys blatant disregard for taxpayer
dollars threatens more than $120 million in federal money, Assembly Republican Minority Leader Brian Kolb said in a prepared release. The state will miss the February 22 deadline, he added. But as that was happening Assembly Democratic spokesman Michael Whyland said Gov. Andrew Cuomo was putting in a crackdown plan through the state welfare agency, the Office for Temporary and Disability Assistance. OTDA spokesman Marc Kaplan said in an email that they submitted their plan to the federal government by the deadline (the governors proposed budget also includes tighter controls on how welfare benefit cards can be used). The governors plan calls for a number of measures that mirror the Senate bill including a potential amendment to welfare rules that would
block electronic benefit card transactions at strip clubs as well as casinos and liquor stores.

So does that mean all is well and New York wont lose $120 million? Not necessarily. But it doesnt mean, as lawmakers charge, that the state hasnt tried. Federal Health and Human Services spokesman Kenneth Wolfe said in an

email that New York met the Feb. 22 deadline. He said that we are currently reviewing all 54 plans received nationally. He didnt respond to several requests to elaborate. Adding to the confusion was the fact that GOP lawmakers continued to blast the governor early Monday, even though the deadline had been met. It wasnt clear if GOP Assemblymen Jim Tedisco and Steve McLaughlin knew that the governors plan had been submitted by the 22nd, when, on Tuesday, they went with a TV reporter in tow to the OTDA office to complain that the state could lose $120 million. I didn't know when it was put in, Tedisco later said. I wanted to know if they went to the 11th hour which they did. I think it had something to do with the noise me and others were making.

Tedisco as well as McLaughlin had also put out tweets and messages about the impending deadline last Friday. Like others, Tedisco noted that the governors proposal didnt go as far as the Republican bill would have gone, when it comes to sanctions and punishment for misuse of benefit cards. Not all Republicans were upset over the outcome, though. At least the governor did what he could administratively, said New York City GOP Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, who had also raised the alarm on Friday but on Monday, lauded Cuomo for submitting a plan. The need for welfare reform has long been a GOP rallying cry. And Senate Republicans passed their bill earlier in the winter, they said constituents frequently wrote or called to complain about what they said was welfare abuse, so it shouldnt be a surprise that

lawmakers talk about the issue at every opportunity.