Today on the show, we outlined the patently false campaign waged by Team Romney and republicans over the past month on the President's changes to welfare. It began with the ad below on August 6th, claiming the President has "gutted" welfare by removing the work requirement and that subsequently recipients "wouldn't have to work" because "they just send you your welfare check."
Politifact quickly rated this ad "pants on fire" and the Washington Post gave it "Four Pinocchios." But the line of attack has continued, with Paul Ryan furthering it, as well as Rick Santorum in his RNC speech. So our team took a look at exactly what the Obama administration's policy is, and it runs entirely contrary to what the Romney campaign claims. The focus of the policy is to increase the number welfare recipients who are working, and it gives states the power to craft a plan for how to do that. That could be a problem for Republicans championing states' rights. What's more, the President's new policy on welfare is one that Governor Romney called for in a letter to Congress in 2005.
Check out the full segment below to watch Alex lay-out the steps the administration took. For reference, you can read the original July 12th memo from the Department of Health and Human services here, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' follow-up letter here, and the letter Governor Romney co-signed and sent to Congress in 2005 here. Now that you've learned the President's policy, what do you think of the Romney campaign's attack strategy?