George Allen, a Republican who had pushed for the reform, said it would lift Virginians on welfare out of poverty and dependency. We are saying that welfare should not be a place where you reside permanently. The test of that policy will only get tougher. Welfare recipients get to keep those benefits for up to a year after they stop receiving their aid checks, giving them a temporary leg up on the rest of the state's working poor. Losing the extras could plunge many of them back into poverty, officials fear.
People are out working.
The issues we now have are not the welfare issues, they are the working poor issues. The rules took effect in Northern Virginia in May 1996. Faced with a requirement to find a job within 90 days, Marrelli started at the card store and has gotten several raises since. Marrelli says she hopes to move up again. My assistant manager is leaving, so I thought I might wriggle into that.