Sat: Lauren Boebert Reaches Across the Aisle

A Benefit Isn't a Benefit If You Don't Get the Benefit of It.

If you’ve ever tried to get one of the many benefits offered by the federal government to help people out in need, you’ve probably run into a thorny problem: time-consuming and often confusing paperwork.

The federal government offers a plethora of benefits designed to help alleviate poverty and help those in dire straits, whether it’s Medicaid, disability, food assistance, unemployment insurance ― or any of the thousands of other programs offered from farm loans to disaster relief. But too often, the discovery and application processes are designed not to facilitate enrollment, but rather to hinder those trying to sign up.

Fewer than 50% of those eligible for Medicaid are signed up for it. More than half of those potentially eligible for unemployment insurance in 2022 did not apply because they weren’t aware they were eligible. And 28% of those eligible for supplemental food assistance ― colloquially known as food stamps ― do not receive it. Recent scholarship from academics and government agencies shows that paperwork burdens and informational hurdles impose a real cost on people seeking to access benefits, reducing enrollment, kicking people off of programs they’re eligible for, and making it hard to learn about them in the first place. And these costs perpetuate inequality and poverty.

The Biden administration is finally trying to do something about this.

In an executive order issued in 2021, President Joe Biden directed agencies to reduce burdens and improve customer experience for government benefit programs with the aim of helping everyone who is eligible to be able to access and receive benefits.

“Biden is really the first to try to tackle this as a whole in the agencies across the executive branch,” said Pamela Herd, an expert on administrative burdens at Georgetown University.

This is part of Biden’s hope to restore faith in government by showing that it can work for Americans. Making government work requires doing the big things, like the new industrial policy vision embedded in the Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS Act, and also the small things, like eliminating barriers people face to get health care or housing or unemployment insurance.

While agencies have been taking on this work for some time, this is the first presidential directive running through the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that seeks to make burden reduction a permanent part of the culture of the federal bureaucracy.

Father Doesn't Necessarily Know Best ... And You May Not Be Able to Find Father

Gone are the white picket fences, the two-and-a-half children in the suburbs, and married parents. The American nuclear family is officially dead, according to a new analysis from the Pew Research Center — even if some Americans haven't accepted it.

In 1970, nearly 70% of American adults ages 25 to 49 were living with a spouse and at least one child. As of 2021 — the most recent year for which they have data — that's fallen to 37%. At the same time, other family arrangements have become more common: In 1970, essentially no one was reported to be cohabitating unmarried with kids; by 2021, that rose to 5%. And, significantly, 18% of American adults were married with no kids in 1970. As of 2021, that's risen to 21%.

Most Concerning GOP Cuts

What that demonstrates to me is that 40 something percent of gop voters are sadistic, racist, fascists who hate children other than their own. That's your maga base.