The Democratic Party strongly objected to the renaming of a subcommittee because of its inclusion of the term “welfare.”
Democratic members of the House Ways and Means Committee asked on Tuesday why the “Subcommittee on Worker and Family Support” would be renamed “Subcommittee on Work and Welfare.”
According to the Daily Wire, Republican leaders, citing that the name of the subcommittee has changed five times in the past three decades, said the change reflects the urgent need to promote workforce participation in order to address labor shortages.
In spite of this, Democrats accused them of having racially motivated motives.
Congresswoman Moore remarked, “I find it amazing that this committee would deliberately add a pejorative to the names of the subcommittees,” adding, “It is not true that denying people benefits would enable them to escape povert.”
During his response, Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-MO) asserted that the best way to uplift people out of poverty is through work.
Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) asked Smith whether he intended to “shame” those who accept welfare, and Smith replied he had difficulty taking the concern seriously given the rhetorical manipulation by Democrats.
According to Smith and other committee members, labor shortages have increased lawmakers’ urgency to address welfare reform.
There are approximately 10.5 million job openings in the economy and 5.7 million unemployed people, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Families whose parents do not work can receive welfare benefits worth more than six figures per year in multiple states, according to a study by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity.
Democrats and Republicans have clashed yet again on Capitol Hill, this time over a seemingly unreal petty issue. Political tensions were heightened when the GOP added one word to the title of a congressional subcommittee, sending the Democrats into outrage. The Democratic Party objected vigorously to the renaming of the subcommittee because it included “welfare”, with claims of racism filtering through their arguments. Republicans posed that changing the name reflected how seriously they take workforce participation in order to address labor shortage, while Democrats seem more interested in having people rely on support from the government forever. It is clear that both parties are facing off once again with very different perspectives on job security and self-reliance.
