I get it, it’s hard not to be judgmental, I read this and focused on one sentence you’ll see highlighted below. What life choices did she make to become so screwed up? What happened to personal responsibility for all the adults involved here?
Those are valid and fair questions but they don’t change the situation relative to need, especially for four children living in near poverty and relying on assistance programs.
Are cuts in safety net programs to save federal government money – your tax dollars, the answer?
Surely not without viable, practical alternatives.
Felica Allen, a 39-year-old nursing assistant and single mom, works the graveyard shift in the emergency room at UHS Wilson Medical Center near Binghamton before returning home each morning to care for her four children, ages 3, 12, 14 and 17. A fifth, 22, moved out in September.
Allen’s $20 an hour salary rose last year to $22.90, which amounted in 2024 to about $39,000 for the hours she worked, including bonuses and overtime. That’s more money than she’s ever made and not far above the federal government’s supplemental poverty threshold for her family size.
It still doesn’t come close to covering her expenses, she said, and her financial situation has worsened despite earning more.
Before Christmas, a letter from the county social services department arrived, saying her monthly Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, the official name of the federal food assistance program, were being slashed from nearly $1,000 to $564 because she’s now making more in wages. Federal food aid is calculated through a formula that considers income and family size.
“I literally went to work in tears that night I found out,” Allen said. “Like how do I feed my family now when I was barely making ends meet before?”
Last summer, she moved from a two-bedroom home to a five-bedroom for $1,950 through Section 8, a federal housing program for low-income people, which covers $750 of the rent. Allen pays the remaining $1,200.
After taxes, she takes home between $2,400 and $2,600 a month based on her hours. Monthly expenses add up: $162 for the car she is still paying off; $287 for car insurance; $400 for phone and internet; and electricity bills that can run more than $500 because of back payments.
Whatever Allen has left over, she spends on toilet paper, toothpaste, household cleaning supplies, gas and groceries.
In March, she decided to reduce her official weekly work hours from 32 to 26 so she could get back $220 in food benefits. She has managed to take on extra shifts when they pop up at the hospital, to make up the difference in salary.
Even with her raise, the rent is perpetually late, and Allen borrows from her sister, aunt and closest friends to cover it. The fathers of her children aren’t involved in their lives, and she has little contact with them, Allen said.
She said she feels trapped in an interminable game of whack-a-mole, figuring out which bills she needs to pay right away and which she can get away with putting off. In recent months, the utility threatened to cut off her power because she’d fallen so far behind on her bill.
Source: Excerpt- Full article appeared in the August 6, 2025, print edition of the WSJ as ‘Many Are Earning More But in Worse Financial Shape’. By Dan Frosch
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
Most welfare entitlements have provisions where benefits are reduced as wages increase. That is nothing new. Structurally, there are better options, but of course, this crap was devised by Congress or some stupid beltway staffer – neither of which ever had to make payroll.
Some idiots, like Nixon, Bernie, Mamdani and others all pine for a Universal Basic Income, so that this mother of 5 could stay home and care for her children.
You state: “… Are cuts in safety net programs to save federal government money – your tax dollars, the answer? Surely not without viable, practical alternatives. …” Almost all of these provisions were agreed upon in a bipartisan fashion of both Republicans and Democrats.
What’s unsurprising to me is that someone who has been receiving various welfare benefits that are a function of her low income was unaware what happens when her income exceeds s different threshold affecting eligibility.
Best option for her? Cut her hours. Then, work in the underground economy (cash basis), or like the 10 – 20 million or more illegal aliens, steal someone else’s identity and secure a second job.
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Her benefits were cut before Christmas? Trump wasn’t sworn in until Jan – so something doesn’t add up here. The proposed SNAP cuts were just announced. Of course, the big questions here is where is the father or fathers?
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Al Lindquist
obviously numerous stories built inside the one WSJ article which I read a few days ago–continuing to subsidize the behavior simply brings more of the behavior–what to do about the kids is a big issue–at least she went back to work to try and make it financially–private charity should step in and it’s possible there are food banks available–
my wife volunteers at a Jesuit food bank and they are now seeing food supplies being curtailed from say 8 months ago–they cannot get the volume or needed foods as they once could–the cuts are real and effects real people.
subsidizing bad behavior is not the answer nor is neglecting the food needs of children.
I didn’t know MAGA folks went nuts over poor decisions –I suspect MAGA folks are not at all surprised–the left does not care I guess and have subsidized this bizarre behavior so long while their solution is to keep on doing it but just spend more money.
like illegal immigration if you allow it and subsidize it you get more of it–MAGA folks just have a bit more common sense then the loons on the left.
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My first thought was Child Support Enforcement is not doing its job when these layabout fathers get a free pass. My second thought was did this woman not ever hear of contraceptives? Why was she turning herself into a baby mill? I guess that’s two thoughts.
No, we can’t let the kids go hungry and cheers to the woman for going to work. The dilemma is how much of this behavior can we support as a society, dollar wise. Does the budget get unlimited funding for these situations? At some point the dollars have to stop, but where is that point? I can’t come up with a solution because there isn’t one that works except getting those aforementioned layabouts to make up the short fall for this woman and her kids.
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