United States Government Welfare Essay

The Welfare Reform Act of 1996 was an attempt by the government to get people to be more efficient and less reliant on the government. There was a sort of “exchange” between the government and citizens. Citizens work and in return they receive financial assistances. This is referred to as the TANF, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. It was supposed to motivate people to work, or that was the goal. Recipients were required to work at least 20 hours a week. This was actually successful in decreasing the number of Americans who were dependent on welfare systems. As diversity greatly increased, the need for welfare also increased. Welfare reform efforts were attempted because of the various changes occurring. Welfare in the United States is

U.S. Welfare started as a federally funded program in the 1930’s during the Great Depression to help aid those families and individuals who had little to no income. The Federal Government was in charge of the U.S. welfare system for sixty years, until the 1990’s when there was an uproar of Americans who were unsatisfied with the way the Federal Government was handling those who were receiving government aid. Many Americans believed that these individuals were abusing the welfare program by “not applying for jobs, having more children just to get more aid, and staying unmarried so as to qualify for benefits.” (Welfareinfo, 2016) In 1996, the states were handed control of the welfare system due to the passed reform law signed by President Bill Clinton.

Welfare in the United States has its roots in FDR’s Great Depression era policies of the New Deal. As part of the Social Security Act, cash transfers were made from the Federal Government to families with children and little-to-no income. In 1996 the system of welfare in the United States was drastically transformed under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, which replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) with Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). One of the biggest changes that came about from this reform was how welfare was paid out. Instead of being a federal program, the administration of welfare payments was shifted to the states and funded through block grants.

Over the years there has been an aid called “welfare” that helps struggling people by offering financial support. Welfare is a federally funded program that helps citizens that are in financial trouble, with the intention of being a sort of “stand in” for income until a person is able to get back on their feet and find a new source of employment. This program started back in 1930’s as a response to the financial hit many people with a family took as a result of the Great Depression. There are multiple types of welfare that give aid to specific aspects of a person’s life, which include health care, food stamps, childcare assistance, unemployment, housing care assistance, and cash aid. When welfare became popular, it created controversy

Reforming the welfare system was first initiated by Bill Clinton in 1996, by keeping a promise “to end welfare as we know it.” Between the years of 1989 and 1994, there had been a 33% increase in the number of households receiving welfare. Originally, these provisions of reform were implemented as a strategy to increase labor market production among public assistance recipients. Many held the belief that those receiving welfare had become too dependent on public assistance. It was suggested that welfare discouraged those receiving benefits from working. Becoming employed would mean losing benefits, while also incurring an array of expenses that were typically covered through public assistance, such as health insurance. As dependency became a primary concern, fundamental reform rooted itself into the minds of the working-class. Although, the idea of getting rid of welfare as a whole was unpopular, the belief that those in need were being discouraged from employment through what was often referred to as “the welfare trap” called for reformation within the system.

Welfare Reform: Promoting Personal Responsibility and Serving the Needs of the PoorIntroductionDuring Bill Clinton’s campaign for Presidency in 1992, he promised Americans that he would make it his priority to end welfare as we know it (Clinton). This goal was made in response to the increase of public pressure to reform a system that many believed had become wasteful and ineffective. In response to this criticism, Clinton called attention to the importance of work instead of dependency on the government. He followed through with his promises and effectively transformed welfare programs unlike any other president. He took a system that was known for its long-term dependency and transformed it to help people become self-supporting. In this

Everyone has their own opinion about the welfare system in the United States. Some feel it is well-designed and other find it to be valueless. Some say it is an excuse for “the lazy” to not have to contribute to society, and use it as a source of income. Some even say the program isn’t utilized in the manner in which it was meant when established. Regardless of opinions, the welfare system was established to help those in a time of need. The United States, “The land of opportunity”, is simply trying to help give those less fortunate the opportunity to succeed. In the following paragraphs we will discuss the history of the welfare system; why it was created; and how the conflict theory impacts it.

In 1935 president Roosevelt create the Welfare system as a result of the first depression, with the main goal to decrease or end poverty in America. In the last fifty years the US poverty rate has gone from 14.3% to 14.8 percent, these numbers prove that poverty in America has has increased. The topic of my essay is: “Does the Welfare System work?” In my opinion,Welfare could be effective, if it’s rules are reinforced and a two year time limit is establish. Welfare affects the United States because, causes national debt, dependency from its users and affects the middle class financially.

Before President Clinton’s vow to reform welfare, there were a series of changes happening within the United States that led to welfare’s policy change. Welfare originally was implemented to increase labor participation among public assistance recipients. The implementation of Welfare in the 1930s represented a shift from the United States protectionist legacy institutionalized in U.S. social welfare policy from the inception of “mother’s pension” beginning in the early 19th century. On top of that recipients of welfare were no longer widowed, now individuals seeking welfare were also categorized as separated, divorced or never married (Cherlin). The United States populous also began to become less and less sympathetic towards those on welfare.

The federal welfare system is a group of program provided by the federal government to give aid to the poor. The federal welfare system was first introduced by President Theodore Roosevelt. Since then, welfare programs have expanded to give health care, houses and food to people in need. The welfare programs were designed to aid the poor, elderly, and disabled, but actually led to higher taxes and abuse of the system. These effects led to calls for reform. Reforms caused more damage than good. The public welfare system needs to be mended by reducing federal and state spending on welfare systems, promoting work for the unemployed and a health care reform.

It is administrated by the Office of Needy Families. TANF replaces the federal program known as Welfare and enables states to offer a wide variety of social services. One change from the old welfare is that TANF recipients must participate in work activities in order to receive benefits. This means that parents receiving TANF must be employed in some capacity, working towards employment, or taking classes increasing their employability. The goal of TANF is to provide families in need with a combination of financial assistance and work opportunities so that they can eventually become

During the past two decades, predominantly since the mid-1990s, congress has intensely restructured the nation’s system of cash welfare assistance for low-income families. The welfare system was intended to be a safety net for those facing economic poverties in order to help workers get back on their feet. However, welfare programs seem to have spiked the unemployment percentage and increased expenditure on social welfare programs at expeditious rates. Although supporters believe that welfare helps unemployed workers and stimulates the economy, welfare programs cause people to become dependent on the government and is killing our economy.

This essay is to inform you of federal policy issues involving welfare causing conflicting debates between national, state, and local government and how these conflicting issues relate to federalism. Federalism is “A government system where power and authority are shared by national and states governments, with the ultimate authority derived from the people. (Levin-Waldman, 2012). This paper will also describe the history of TANF and discuss debates about the pros and cons of TANF Temporary Assistance to Needy Families and the problems they are intended to solve or improve and the effectiveness of them both.

There appears to be a need for government and state officials to further reform welfare programs. This need for welfare reform directly affects all American tax payers. It is the abuse of the programs that needs direct attention. There should be stricter guidelines and qualifications to potential applicants. Each family’s situation should be readdressed quarterly to ensure that they still qualify for aid. These programs are a huge financial burden to the government agencies and are therefore taxed down upon the American tax payers who do work hard for a

The United States Government has pumped more than $3.5 trillion U.S. taxpayer dollars into welfare but, ironically, the poverty rate is higher than when they started (Tanner, Welfare Reform). This outrageous amount of money proves that welfare will lead United States into debt. The original intent of current welfare benefits has failed; therefore the national welfare system must be reformed. To fully understand how to reform the welfare system Americans must know what the history of welfare is, illegitimate births’ obvious connection to crime and welfare, how welfare has failed to keep the poverty rate down, the great problem of dependency, and finally what reforms must be made. Welfare reforms will greatly help this Nation become