South Carolina Lt. Governor Backtracks: Andre Bauer Calls Welfare 'Cycle Of Dependency'

South Carolina Lt. Governor Backtracks: Andre Bauer Calls Welfare 'Cycle Of Dependency'

Andre Bauer, the Lt. Governor of South Carolina who had apologized for equating welfare recipients to stray animals, appears to be taking back that show of contrition.

In a thirty-second video, released this week, Bauer acknowledges that speaking out about "dependency" on welfare and other social services "may not be politically correct, but it's the right thing to do."

The video and transcript are below:

"We have a problem of dependency which is getting worse instead of better. People collecting welfare with no intention with no intention of ever getting off the government gravy train. We don't mind a hand up, but we can't continue to have generational handouts. Especially when the state's considering furloughing teachers, and releasing prisoners early. Taxpayers have had enough. Somebody has to have the courage to speak out, to break the cycle of dependency. Speaking out about these programs may not be politically correct, but it's the right thing to do."


Here are his earlier remarks that sparked the controversy:


"My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals," Bauer told a an audience in South Carolina last month. "You know why? Because they breed.

"You're facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don't think too much further than that. And so what you've got to do is you've got to curtail that type of behavior. They don't know any better."

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