House Republicans emphatically agree with Mitt Romney that stay-at-home moms work just as hard as anybody in the workforce. But when it comes to applying that standard to mothers on welfare, they draw the line.
Romney weighed in on the work of stay-at-home moms last week after Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen suggested that Ann Romney, a stay-at-home mom, had "never worked a day in her life." Mitt Romney defended his wife's choice to stay home with their five sons by saying, "All moms are working moms."
"Well, I agree," Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said of Romney's comment.
But when Mica was informed of a Democratic bill that would allow child rearing to count toward the required "work activity" that must be performed by recipients of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families -- the federal program born out of welfare reform in 1996 -- he had a change of heart.
"It's a stretch. It's a stretch. It's a stretch," Mica told The Huffington Post earlier this week.
Specifically, the bill, called the Women's Option to Raise Kids (WORK) Act, would allow low-income mothers with children ages 3 and under to stay at home with their children and continue receiving benefits. It will be introduced by Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) and has about half a dozen Democratic cosponsors.
"It really is a luxury these days for a mom to be able to stay home and raise the kids," Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), a cosponsor of the WORK Act, said Thursday on MSNBC. "But if you're lower income, it's just virtually impossible right now not to look for some outside income."
I love the part about how the Romneys taught their sons to be self-reliant. Right; I'm sure they haven't benefited at all from their parents' millions.
At least six people are believed to have been killed Monday and several others injured when a gunman opened fire at a religious university in Northern California.
According to police, the shooter is believed to be a current or former nursing student at Oikos University, a Christian university that offers degrees in theology and nursing. He allegedly opened fire at around 10:30 a.m. local time in a classroom at the school's Oakland campus.
Authorities announced Monday afternoon that they have a suspect in custody who they believe to be the gunman. No motive has yet been reported.
Police have not released an official tally of how many people were killed or wounded during the incident. Oakland City Council President Larry Reid, however, told KGO-TV in San Francisco that police have told him that at least six people were killed. Earlier Monday, ABC News noted that aerial video taken of the scene showed at least five bodies laid out under sheets on the school lawn.
The Oikos University website describes the school as a place where students can "obtain a Christian education that is based on solid Christian doctrine and ideology."
Campaigning in Puerto Rico, Rick Santorum doesn't show any signs that he wants to pander Wednesday, telling voters (erroneously) that they must declare English their only official language to achieve statehood.
You'd think Santorum would want to butter up Puerto Ricans a bit more deftly, given the fact that Mitt Romney's victories in American Samoa and Hawaii last night actually won him more delegates than Santorum grabbed with his Alabama and Mississippi wins. Yet according to Reuters, Santorum told El Vocero, a local newspaper, "Like any other state, there has to be compliance with this and any other federal law ... And that is that English has to be the principal language. There are other states with more than one language such as Hawaii but to be a state of the United States, English has to be the principal language."
I predict that even if Puerto Rico votes for statehood, it would be a very difficult sell to the GOP due to its current xenophobia, even though the pro-statehood governor supports the GOP. If Puerto Rico votes for statehood, expect an explosion of anti-Hispanic hatred in the wingularity.
