Welfare Reform Work Requirements Act of 2020 - Saxenheim

Rationale

Mandatory work-for-benefits reduces long-term welfare dependency while ensuring public funds support productive employment, boosting economic output.

Proposed Changes

	Law	Previous		Proposed
1	Welfare Conditionality	Light conditions, few sanctions		Mandatory work-for-benefits

1

Welfare Conditionality

Previous law

Light conditions, few sanctions

Mandatory work-for-benefits

Timeline

Draft

9 March 2020
Vote Open

9 March 2020
Vote Closed

8 May 2020
Did Not Become Law

8 May 2020

Vote tally

Live tally across each chamber. Weighted by seats held.

Bundesrat

Failed

22Yes 35No 12Not voted 69 seats

For: 22 / 69 seats (31.9%)

Against: 35 · Abstained: 0 · Not voted: 12

50.1% of those voting must vote in favour (actual = 38.6%)

Party	Seats	Vote	Reason
Alliance For Digital Freedom And Rights	14	No	ADFR will oppose this proposal. People are not unemployed for fun, and complex issues such as long-term unemployment or the rise of NEETs cannot be solved simply by making benefits conditional on work, especially since part of our welfare may be considered a basic human right. We do support stronger sanctions against deliberate abuse of the welfare system and will vote for them when and if any party puts forward such a bill, but the focus should remain on education, job training and helping people back into employment.
Competence And Freedom	12	Yes	We agree that elligibility for welfare should be conditional on willingness to work. While some amount of welfare is necessary, light conditions make the system easy to exploit and create dependency.
Left Forward	21	No	This proposal starts from the wrong assumption. Most unemployed people are not refusing to work. They are looking for work or dealing with circumstances that cannot be solved by sanctions or compulsory labour. Welfare should provide security while people get back on their feet, not become a source of punishment. Helping people into decent jobs works better than forcing them into any job.
Saxenheim Workers’ Union Proposer	10	Yes	No reason given
Empty seats	5	Not voted

Bundestag

Failed

207Yes 329No 114Not voted 650 seats

For: 207 / 650 seats (31.8%)

Against: 329 · Abstained: 0 · Not voted: 114

50.1% of those voting must vote in favour (actual = 38.6%)

Party	Seats	Vote	Reason
Alliance For Digital Freedom And Rights	130	No	ADFR will oppose this proposal. People are not unemployed for fun, and complex issues such as long-term unemployment or the rise of NEETs cannot be solved simply by making benefits conditional on work, especially since part of our welfare may be considered a basic human right. We do support stronger sanctions against deliberate abuse of the welfare system and will vote for them when and if any party puts forward such a bill, but the focus should remain on education, job training and helping people back into employment.
Competence And Freedom	117	Yes	We agree that elligibility for welfare should be conditional on willingness to work. While some amount of welfare is necessary, light conditions make the system easy to exploit and create dependency.
Left Forward	199	No	This proposal starts from the wrong assumption. Most unemployed people are not refusing to work. They are looking for work or dealing with circumstances that cannot be solved by sanctions or compulsory labour. Welfare should provide security while people get back on their feet, not become a source of punishment. Helping people into decent jobs works better than forcing them into any job.
Saxenheim Workers’ Union Proposer	90	Yes	No reason given
Empty seats	52	Not voted

Voting record

Every vote must state a public reason. Most recent first.

Alliance For Digital Freedom And Rights

Voted March 28, 2020

No

“ADFR will oppose this proposal. People are not unemployed for fun, and complex issues such as long-term unemployment or the rise of NEETs cannot be solved simply by making benefits conditional on work, especially since part of our welfare may be considered a basic human right. We do support stronger sanctions against deliberate abuse of the welfare system and will vote for them when and if any party puts forward such a bill, but the focus should remain on education, job training and helping people back into employment.”

Left Forward

Voted March 22, 2020

No

“This proposal starts from the wrong assumption. Most unemployed people are not refusing to work. They are looking for work or dealing with circumstances that cannot be solved by sanctions or compulsory labour. Welfare should provide security while people get back on their feet, not become a source of punishment. Helping people into decent jobs works better than forcing them into any job.”

Competence And Freedom

Voted March 10, 2020

Yes

“We agree that elligibility for welfare should be conditional on willingness to work. While some amount of welfare is necessary, light conditions make the system easy to exploit and create dependency.”