from the welfare rolls, pointing out that would be a violation of law.
Actually, much of what the Administration did when it cut subsidies and started welfare payments 13 months ago was in violation of the law. The Administration essentially just did what it wanted to do and ignored the law, but Larijani didn’t complain then.
All factions were silent when the subsidies-to-welfare shift took place presumably because the Supreme Leader issued a secret order commanding silence.
But that was a year ago. Now Larijani is citing the law. Originally, Ahmadi-nejad proposed that welfare payments not go to the wealthiest 30 percent of the population. But the Majlis ordered that payments be made to every family, though with declining amounts for wealthier families.
The Ahmadi-nejad Administration couldn’t figure out how to do that and has been paying equal sums every month to every citizen.
That is breaking the bank, so officials are now saying they will drop 10 million people, or about the wealthiest 15 percent, from the rolls though they haven’t explained how they will figure out whom those people are.
Larijani last week said, “The government can pay more in welfare to those who are needy. But to exclude some people altogether is against the law.”