Democrats complained extensively this week about the decision to establish a “Work and Welfare” subcommittee under the House Ways and Means Committee, claiming that the name is highly disrespectful to those who get welfare checks and is particularly offensive to black Americans.
“The word ‘welfare’ is a deeply pejorative term in our country that many people use to describe individuals who want to game the system. African Americans, the myths around the welfare queen, were based on lies that were used to paint a picture of African Americans as lazy, not wanting to work.”
Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) also weighed in on the topic, saying, “As we know, ‘welfare,’ while it might be a word that connotes security and well-being, is not well and it’s not fair, and it has been changed into a pejorative, and I find it amazing that this committee would deliberately add a pejorative to the names of the subcommittees.”
According to Smith, the GOP’s desire to wean as many people off welfare is reflected in the name change: “The reason for that is because the purpose and the focus that we’re going to have is to try to uplift people out of poverty, and the best way to uplift people out of poverty is with work.”
When pressed on the issue further, Smith accused Democrats of creating a controversy where there is none, and said Democrats often get stuck on “words and definitions.”
“Your party is one that we don’t know if you can say ’man‘ or ’woman,‘ ’birthing person‘ or ’mother,’” he said. “It’s clearly about work and welfare. That alone is what this is about.”
Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.) objected to the controversy altogether, saying, “Rome is burning, and this committee is now arguing about what color to paint the fire hydrants.”
Democrats made a few alternate name suggestions at the end of the conference but later retracted their official requests, and the change passed on a party-line vote.
The committee was previously named the Subcommittee on Worker and Family Support.
