Letters to the editor for Saturday, Jan. 10, 2015

Here’s how to deal with abuse of social services

Today because of our government’s lack of care, I have lost the pride to call myself an American. Mind you, I feel every American deserves to have access to such social service/welfare as a temporary holdover during a rough patch in their lives. But I do not feel people that are here illegally are deserving of these benefits.

The fact is, many undocumented residents do use their American-born children government-issued Social Security numbers to receive benefits from a system that they have never paid into.

I do have one easy fix. We need to make it standard that anyone under the age of 14 cannot receive social services unless approved by a prior hearing, along with the identities of any current and/or future recipients verified via by the E-Verify system.

Please understand that I am aware many American families do also abuse this system and use it as way of life, not the temporary help it was set up to be. For this, I say have the assistance available only for a two-year period, and if people are physically capable, they will need to perform 20 hours of community services monthly, along with only two children to be claimed for welfare benefits only.

I strongly feel that if the abuse of our social services systems arrives at its current point, our government needs to borrow money from another to pay for the upkeep of this internal systems. Perhaps we need to explore alternative ways to regulate our tax dollars.

Donald Jackson

Carson City