Ironical Irony

The piece at this link wants to complain about soon-to-disappear federal dollars if states don’t implement new and tougher standards in the welfare-to-work rules:

States stand to lose $23 million in federal funding over the next five years, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), if they fail to meet tougher new standards that require a larger percentage of welfare parents to participate in federally approved programs designed to help them find jobs.

The new rules, part of the Deficit Reduction Act signed in January, are the first major changes in the federal-state welfare program – Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) – since its creation in 1996.

Normally I’d carry on about unfunded mandates and the welfare state and all but I just got stuck staring at the acronym—TANF. So very similar to another well-known acronym that plays on this matter.

For the darkest possible view on the matter, check this commentary from the Times of London.