In response to a new report by the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, the debate about welfare recipients purchasing lottery with their benefits has been reignited.

Last year (and the year before) proposals to implement that ban came before the Legislature. In the Senate, the bill sponsored by Senate President Mike Thibodeau, R-Waldo, had strong bi-partisan support with only five Democrats voting against it. Interestingly, two of the Democrats who voted against it have come out recently saying they now support that ban.

Though the bill passed in the Senate, it failed in the Democrat-controlled House. Democrats who now are saying they support the prohibition are claiming they had to vote against the bill because it was a Republican “wish list” for welfare reform. If I had to guess, I’d say their constituents would have a similar “wish list.”

Besides banning the use of welfare to buy lottery, the legislation would have banned the use of welfare to pay for bail, liquor or tattoos. It also would have instituted a work search requirement for able-bodied adults who receive welfare. I’d like to know which of those provisions prevented Democrats from supporting the legislation. To me, they seem like common sense.

Welfare reform is not going away as an issue. I have said it before, and I will say it again: while meeting people in Androscoggin County during my campaign, making real changes to welfare was the number one topic people wanted to discuss. Last year, of all the measures proposed, only one was able to make it through. It is disappointing that after all the public support for making actual change to improve Maine’s safety net, efforts are still being blocked.

Did you know it wasn’t until 2012 that it was illegal to use an EBT card at a strip club? Now, years later, it is still legal to use welfare benefits to buy lottery and pay bail. My Republican colleagues and I have long stood firm on these issues. It was a Republican-sponsored bill in 2012 that finally banned EBT cards from strip clubs, casinos and liquor stores. Every year that we let pass without further prohibitions on welfare benefits for bail, lottery and tattoos is a year of money wasted, of our most vulnerable not being prioritized for services because that money is being wasted, of money not being spent on food for children, or helping our seniors. Mainers want that to change. They want to help, but they want their money to actually help — not be taken advantage of.

Yes, piecemeal changes like banning EBT use at strip clubs are moving Maine in the right direction, but it is discouraging to see continuing efforts to make larger reform blocked. It is frustrating not only to lawmakers, but to Maine’s taxpayers and to those who truly need the assistance offered by a safety net. While making changes one at a time is better than nothing, Mainers want more done.

It is good to hear, in the wake of the revelations about folks on public assistance spending much on lottery, that Democrats have changed their tune on that issue. I am hoping this is not just lip service, but will translate to votes at the State House in support of reform. In our system of government, we need the votes from the Democrats to change the laws.

Maine needs to be protecting our truly needy citizens. There are far too many avenues for people to take advantage of the system and receive benefits that are funded through  hardworking Mainers’ tax dollars.

The Maine Legislature begins meeting again on Jan. 6, and we will have another chance to work on and vote on reforms. Now that Democrats seem open to some of the ideas long touted by Republicans, perhaps we will be able to make progress in 2016.

Eric Brakey, R-Auburn, is serving his first term in the Maine Senate.