DIONNE WALKER
Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA – Desperate though they are to fill gaps in their budgets, more than half the states in the country haven’t touched a $5 billion pot of federal stimulus funds meant to find work for welfare recipients.
Leaders in most states have hesitated to pony up the matching funds the program requires to create jobs that might not last after the federal subsidy’s Sept. 30 sunset date.
The Department of Health and Human Services has handed out $1.2 billion of the emergency cash to 22 states, including $124 million to help them ease caseloads by paying employers to hire low-skilled, low-income workers. The rest has gone to help states pay for general welfare programs.