Arizona Wimps Out, Decides Not To Starve Poors During Shutdown After All

In what has to be a disappointment to Fox News viewers everywhere, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has reversed the state's plan to not issue welfare checks during the government shutdown, bringing to an end Arizona's distinction of being the only state to halt payments from the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program.

Really, Arizona? And we suppose that if the other 49 states decided that Barack Obama is the duly elected President of the United States, you would too?? 

Last week, the state's whimsically named Department of Economic Security (DES) announced that "roughly 5,200 eligible low-income families with children would be denied payments under the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program," according to the Arizona Republic. 

In a written statement, Brewer said that the actual number of families denied aid was actually 3,200; there was no explanation of the discrepancy between the two numbers. The statement did take care to explain that Arizona's just being real nice this one time, and that the greedy bastards who think they deserve a whopping $207 a month per family had better not get too comfortable:

“(Arizona) cannot afford to pay the federal government’s bills,” she said. “If the federal government remains at a stalemate come November, Arizona may be faced with catastrophic budgetary challenges and choices as we figure out how to salvage TANF and other critical programs. The failure of leadership in Washington is placing a heavy burden on our state, our core services and our citizens most in need.”

The newspaper report also noted that the restored payments will likely only go to families who qualified for TANF before the shutdown:

The stopgap measure doesn’t appear to help families that are newly eligible and won’t restart other programs that are on hold, including job training and emergency crisis assistance.

Due to the lack of federal money, the DES is also furloughing nearly 250 employees who process disability applications and other services. The furlough is not affected by Brewer's TANF directive.

Wonkette would like to remind poor and disabled Arizonans that no less an expert than Sarah Palin has explained that the federal shutdown is merely a "pinprick" and that it is "not the end of the world if there’s a partial government shutdown." If they feel put out by this inconvenience, they should just thank their lucky stars that they are not trying to visit the WWII Memorial in Washington, D.C., which is only open to WWII vets because Barack Obama is bent on making Americans suffer and also genociding them, which is just Science Fact. 

[ Arizona Republic via TPM ]