Republican governors waged a decade-long attack on social services provided to families and those who are needy. The Republican playbook remained the same: setting up guidelines requiring that recipients return to work in set timeframes, that work requirements be built into the programs, and that they heckled those who didn’t agree.
In Kansas we can see the results: Grift is at record levels in Republican businesses. Meanwhile, the Republicans were so concerned about how these funds could be misused that they pushed through legislation about how and where the money could be spent—like on cruise ships and casinos. When Republican states focused on how to make sure people couldn’t get access to social services, they set themselves up for an outright disaster. When COVID-19 hit, states under Republican leadership that focused on these issues were completely unprepared to reverse course on their strategy and get assistance to the people. Now the results are devastating. The Republican response, in essence, is: ‘Let’s put forward more ideas about making it difficult for families in need to get help.’