The Potential Abolishment of Government Assistance Programs

The welfare system has been controversial throughout U.S. history. It is constantly under attack and is often the chosen topic of political debates. In 2015, 35.4% of Americans were on welfare (Boyd). Welfare is a government ran program, where the government gives benefits to people who cannot afford to take care of themselves or their family (“Brief”). The benefits that the government gives to the people are money and the necessities they need to live a normal life (“Welfare” 825). The welfare system is an interesting topic and has many layers. Although it is necessary, at the same time it is frustrating for many politicians and U.S. citizens. Numerous people abuse the welfare system everyday. People have found many ways to take

America spends an annual amount of 131.9 billion dollars on welfare alone (Department of Commerce). So many facts about welfare are overwhelming, such that over 12,800,000 Americans are on the welfare system. The entire social welfare system is in desperate need of a complete reform. In order for a proper reform to ensue, the people of America must combine efforts with the U.S. government to revitalize the current welfare system. This reform would involve answering two important questions. First, how has today’s welfare system strayed from its original state and secondly, how is the system abused by welfare holders in today’s economy?

Poverty effected many individual families around the world for many years, and it wasn’t until 1935, The Social Security Act was passed, therefore assisting many families in need. The effects of poverty is an extraordinarily obscure social experience, and the finding those causes is very similar. As a result, sociologists considered other theories of poverty, such as the journey of the middle class, employers, from the cities into the suburbs. The government has taken many steps over the years to put an end to or decrease welfare assistance. Although, the welfare system is extremely important to millions of people, it has been an underlying problem for many others causing idleness and laziness. There are many pros and cons to

The effects of the 1996 welfare reform bill helped declined caseloads on the social and economic well-being of fragile families, single mothers, and children. Although, the welfare reform was documented for making several positive changes such as reducing poverty rates, lowering the out of-wedlock childbearing, and formulated a better family structure, it is undeniable that poverty remained high among single mothers and their children. The reality of the matter was that most welfare recipients experienced serious barriers to maintain a stable employment due to their lack of skills, not having anyone available to take care of their young children when they leave for work as well as not gaining long-time employment with decent pay to help foster the family. As a result, most poor women and children were faced with the instability of economic and social future as welfare eligibility exhausted their efforts of supporting their families.

Welfare reform is viewed by many as an attack on poor, single mothers. According to Rebecca Blank, “single-mother families are the largest (and fastest-growing) family type.” They also make up nearly all of the families who receive welfare (only 7% of welfare recipients live in two-parent households and even fewer welfare households are headed by men, according to Hays.) Hays also notes in the book that these single mothers are frequently derided as lazy, promiscuous, and are accused of abusing the welfare system for their ill-gotten gains (which in most cases total the princely sum of less than $500 per month.)

The welfare systems are based on the principle of public responsibility on equitable wealth distribution and equality of opportunities to citizens who are unable to afford minimal levels of quality and good life, through provision of universal education programs, health care and subsidised housing. In most of the states, welfare systems are not used in the right manner they are intended to. Although the systems are meant to reduce the poverty level and at least assists individuals to get decent jobs, many recipients develops news ways every year to prolong their dependency in the system. Statistics show that women easily abuse the welfare system by simply having more children each year since this means that more money will come in their mails. Most of the recipients on welfare are able to work

Welfare should not be reformed because it helps single parents. 40 percent of single mothers are poor, 12 million single parents-mother-headed families are poor (Freeman). Welfare can help keep these single parent families stay stable to be an effective families. 12 million single parents mothers headed families can be reduced to less underachieving families with the assistants of welfare. Also with single parents they never had an significant other.

Ideally not everyone can commit to welfare-to-work programs, but this doesn’t mean they deserve to fend for themselves. It only makes sense for families who work to receive enough money to support themselves. Michele Gilman divulged how stagnant the wages for lower income families are she wrote, “American workers are among the most productive in the world, but over the last 40 years the bottom half of income earners have seen no income growth. As a result since 1973, worker productivity has grown . . . almost six times faster than wages” (Gilman 2018). Without raising the minimum wage there will be the same problems for posterity in the U.S. Michelle also expresses the problems in wages and how they affect housing she asserts, “There are 11 million renter households paying more than half their income on housing. And there is no county . . . in America where a minimum wage worker can afford a two-bedroom home. Still, only 1 in 4 . . . eligible households receive any form of government housing assistance” (Gilman 2018). Housing cost steadily increase yet the amount wages that are being paid out to the lower working class stays constant, if this continues the basic necessities are going to become too unaffordable and more people are going to need government assistance. It is also made evident that many not all people living in poverty gain welfare

However, these gains were offset by reduce income from means-tested programs and increase in childcare costs. These findings shows that many single mothers moved from welfare poor to working poor (therefore they had difficulties solidifying their economic well- being) consequently (Ann, 2014; Hennessy, 2005; Kim & Joo, 2009). Many single mothers who left welfare experienced difficulties in solidifying their economic well-being. A study was done by Cancian, Meyer & Wu (2008) with a sample of 14, 150 women from Wisconsin who was recipients of TANF benefits, in its first year. The study documented long-term (six-year) employment and earnings patterns of Welfare recipients. Some women had a positive outcome but this was not the majority. 46% identified as being an employment success and 22% as an earning success. 12% were continuously unemployed and 29% never had more than $5,000 in earnings in any

This paper explores five different sources that report information about the U.S.’s welfare programs. The sources discuss when welfare first came about as well as the changes that have occurred over the years. This paper will inform, analyze, and state my opinion on the affect of welfare in the United States. I will discuss the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, the Welfare-to-Work initiative, and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). This paper will state my opinion of the welfare changes made in Congress in 1996, after giving you details of what was changed in the welfare programs.

On the other hand, welfare to work may be working because when Clinton signed the welfare reform bill in 1996, his goal was 10,000 new federal hires, but the federal Office of Personnel Management reports that as of January 2001, 50,827 former welfare recipients have found work (Doherty 1). Single parents are now receiving earnings and it does not seem as if they are getting "hand outs?anymore. Our society greatly values paid work, so single parents are building up their moral. These parents may even feel "I am?worth something in society because I am earning my living as opposed to receiving "hand outs.?Working also allows for economic security and financial independence. Under this new bill, the once ever-growing number of recipients on welfare is rapidly decreasing. For example, a Job Center in Los Angeles had 9,100 families on welfare and it has decreased by fort percent. Currently, the rate is falling by 6,000 recipients a day. (Haskins 3). James D. VanErden, vice president of the National Alliance of Business, declares this law has "changed the outlook for the welfare population?by instilling in them an expectation of work, but it also "has been a boon for business?(Miller 2).

United States Government Welfare began in the 1930’s during the Great Depression. Franklin D. Roosevelt thought of this system as an aid for low-income families whose men were off to war, or injured while at war. The welfare system proved to be beneficial early on by giving families temporary aid, just enough to help them accommodate their family’s needs. Fast forward almost 90 years, and it has become apparent that this one once helpful system, has become flawed. Welfare itself and the ideologies it stands on, contains decent fundamentals; furthermore, this system of aid needs only to be reformed to better meet the needs of today’s society.

Throughout history, there have always been people willing to work for what they want, and those who expect things to be handed to them as if it was a natural-born right. While the welfare system does positively impact some families in need, many people take advantage of it. With this being a well known fact, the government still continues to use ten percent of the federal budget on welfare (“Budget” 1).

Coleman-Jensen says “49 million Americans struggle to put food on the table.” There are hundreds of people living in the U.S alone who are in poverty. This is from the result of huge student loans, family troubles, and unemployment. U.S. Census Bureau said “In 2014, 15.5 million or approximately 21 percent of children in the U.S. lived in poverty.” Most people know that having children will be nothing more than bigger financial pain; however, there are also those who see it as a gain. Due to welfare and other help programs, people that are having more children are able to get by in life The US welfare system states “The type and amount of aid available to individuals and dependent children varies from state to state. When the Federal Government gave control back to the states there was no longer one source and one set of requirements. Most states offer basic aid such as healthcare, food stamps, child care assistance, unemployment, cash aid, and housing assistance.” A single mother, or a father of five, will get more help from the government than one person who works more than one job with the same amount of children.This is a simple truth that seems a bit

The majority of people on welfare can easily be classified into two categories. The first categorical term covered is called “rescue welfare” (). The group of people in this category consists of Americans who have had a healthy and steady job all while paying their taxes and insurance without problem. The reason these people enter into the welfare