(NewsWorthy.news) – Democratic Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has come under fire from conservatives for distributing thousands of dollars to low-income mothers as part of an economic recovery strategy aimed at offsetting childcare costs. One of the recipients of the funds spent most of the money on a lavish trip to Miami. In the trial recipients were given direct cash payments to determine whether the money could demonstrate participants’ economic improvements. The 132 mothers taking part in the program could choose between monthly payments of $900 or a lump sum payment of $10,800.
Joel Griffith, an economic researcher at The Heritage Foundation, told Fox News that the program is not helping the participants reach long-term economic prosperity. Griffith suggested that the mayor could have made far better use of the funds by investing in the police department.
The mayor has a history of responses on the issue of crime branded “tone deaf”; in 2021 Bowser deleted a tweet advising on how to avoid car theft after remaining silent for several days over the death of an UberEats driver in a carjacking. After referring to car theft as a “crime of opportunity” the mayor was accused by critics of victim-blaming. In 2023 Bowser dismissed and refused to watch a viral video featuring two teens discussing whether they’d rather commit car theft or murder. As crime escalated among youths in the city she questioned the video’s accuracy. The mayor also dodged questions in 2022 relating to charges Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Christopher Geldart faced over his alleged involvement in an assault caught on camera at a gym he belonged to.
Griffith commented that the handouts to the mothers in the program trapped them in a cycle of poverty and that the program was a waste of money at a time when the city is more dangerous and crime-ridden than ever before. According to the conservative commentator’s calculations, the money could have instead been used to hire 25 full-time police officers and better benefit the city’s civilians, single mothers included. One recipient of the funds admitted to spending most of the money in Miami on an experience her children would not have received otherwise that exposed them to an extravagant boat tour, million-dollar houses, and luxury yachts.
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