Democrats are enemies of even Captain Obvious welfare controls

OPINION:

President Donald Trump signed a memorandum that puts teeth into two laws from 1996 requiring the sponsors of those who come to this country legally to pay back welfare benefits they may have used and mandating those who determine public benefits to consider joint, rather than individual, incomes of migrant spouses — laws that have largely gone unenforced.

So simple; so Captain Obvious obvious. So, so sad that Trump even had to take this action, though.

Trump’s memo simply makes federal agencies enforce laws already on the books.

“This is a historic, transformative action to restore the foundational principle of U.S. immigration law — that those seeking to join our society must support themselves financially,” one senior administration official told Breitbart.

Yes, it is.

But the bigger story is why this action of Trump’s is historic and transformative.

The laws from 1996 — the “Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act” and the “Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act” — were signed into law by Bill Clinton, back when Democrats actually felt enough allegiance to America, or political heat, or combination of the two, to pay more than lip service to the notion of securing borders and protecting taxpaying citizens from the burden of bottomless welfare coffers.

Nowadays, it’s tough to find any Democrats who want to close borders at all. And nowadays, it’s near impossible to find any Democrats who talk openly about the need to slow rolls on welfare handouts to those coming to this country — such points of view are deemed racist and bigoted.

Thus, Trump’s “historic” and “transformative” signing of a presidential memo that makes the federal agencies enforce these two laws.

“To protect benefits for American citizens,” Trump said, in announcing his plan, “immigrants must be financially self-sufficient.”

Good for Trump, but more so good for the American citizen.

Now welfare recipients and their sponsors coming from foreign nations will have to shoulder some of the financial responsibility of becoming solid, contributing members of U.S. society, and pay back what they take. Now incomes of incoming wives and husbands won’t be kept separate for the purposes of applying for welfare, of accepting tax dollars from the hard working citizenry.

But why was Trump’s order necessary in the first place?

That’s a question that uncorks the even bigger issues facing America — the angry infiltrations of far left forces sweeping the nation who want nothing more than to topple sovereign America.

Until these forces can be addressed — meaning, halted — America will have to accept the idea that in today’s political climate, Captain Obvious is considered revolutionary.

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.