Republicans are taking aim at America’s bloated welfare system.
Democrats aren’t happy about it.
And Glenn Grothman just dropped a bombshell on Chuck Schumer that left Democrats red with rage.
Republicans examine the broken welfare state
Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services Chairman Glenn Grothman (R-WI) isn’t pulling any punches when it comes to exposing the deep flaws in America’s massive welfare system.
At a recent hearing titled “Examining the Growth of the Welfare State, Part II,” Grothman laid out the shocking truth about government housing programs that waste billions while actually hurting the very people they claim to help.
The Wisconsin Republican didn’t hold back when highlighting how these programs are designed to fail.
“The fact is the federal welfare system is full of the wrong incentives and disincentives,” Grothman stated during his opening remarks.
“It discourages marriage and hard work, while at the same time encouraging dependency,” he continued.
Most alarming is how these programs actively discourage family formation – one of the most proven paths out of poverty.
“Section 8 housing vouchers and public housing programs contain marriage penalties, which can make it economically foolish to get married,” Grothman explained.
“In many cases, individuals risk losing their Section 8 voucher if they get married and their combined household income increases beyond the threshold.”
The shocking statistics
The consequences of these failed policies are devastating American families.
Grothman revealed that in 1960, only 5 percent of children were born to unmarried women.
Today, that number has skyrocketed to a staggering 40 percent.
Meanwhile, taxpayers are being fleeced for over $53 billion annually just for rental assistance programs, with the total welfare price tag exceeding $1 trillion each year.
The hearing featured testimony from former HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson, who witnessed firsthand how these programs trap Americans in dependency rather than creating pathways to self-sufficiency.
Corruption runs rampant
If the perverse incentives weren’t bad enough, corruption and abuse plague these programs.
Grothman cited a shocking example from the Milwaukee Housing Authority, which misused $2.8 million in federal dollars meant for tenants to pay its own staff instead.
Even worse, this fraud continued undetected for six years.
“Welfare also often benefits middlemen and the administrative state more than the low-income Americans it purports to be for,” Grothman explained.
Grothman takes direct aim at Schumer’s elitism
The Wisconsin Republican saved his most devastating blow for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who recently mocked working Americans for wanting accountability in government spending.
Grothman quoted Schumer’s condescending remarks about Americans who oppose their hardened dollars being confiscated by the Washington grift machine.
“Their attitude is, ‘I made my money all by myself. How dare the government take my money from me?’,” Schumer barked in an interview on The View earlier this year.
How dare Americans want to keep their hard earned money? https://t.co/vBlFCn6Iwe
— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) March 18, 2025
Then Grothman fired back with both barrels.
“To that I say, how could Americans not be frustrated by a system that steals their hard-earned money and wastes it on programs which are needlessly inefficient, and which erode the strength of the American family?”
The hearing is part of a broader Republican effort to reform a welfare system that creates dependency rather than opportunity. With testimony from Dr. Carson and other housing experts, Grothman aims to identify solutions that could save taxpayer money while actually helping lift Americans out of poverty.
