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Welfare Fraud Research Paper

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Finally, after almost a half a decade into the Great Depression in 1935 President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his administration suggested to Congress that a consistent federal social welfare program was needed in the United States of America. The president’s new deal would give work relief to those citizens in financial need. On August 14th, 1935 the Social Security Act was passed as a bill by Congress. The bill was eventually enforced by the year 1939 just a few years before the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States was about to enter World War II.
In President Roosevelt’s of the Union Address in January 1935, the President stated, "the time has come for action by the national government to provide security against the major hazards …show more content…

While there is fraud that happens in the welfare system it is not to the extent to which people think. Welfare fraud does not happen as often as other citizens think. Instances of fraud includes a recipient not recording their income, not recording a source income in the household, and not recording an over payment of cash assistance. According to getoutofdebt.org in the fiscal year of 2004- 2005 there was a total of 425 convictions of welfare fraud in the United States. That is not a massive number when in comparison to the total of people who are receiving welfare.
One instance of fraud reported by dss.gov An Arizonian woman served two months in county jail for illegally using food stamps. The woman put false information when she applied for the welfare in 10 different instances between 2000 and 2004. On the welfare applications, she lied about her monthly and the number of children she was a caretaker for. The woman was found guilty for welfare fraud and was sentenced to three years of probation and was ordered to pay …show more content…

Also the recipients should have to present the social case worker their monthly bills and income each month, so that the government will have a good understanding on the recipient’s financial situation. With random house visits the case worker will be able to see if welfare recipients are using the money they get money correctly. Case workers will be able to see if people are using the money for necessities like healthy food, monthly bills, and child care if the recipient has any children.
An additional way the welfare system is not working is by people continuously losing their jobs while on the welfare system so they can keep receiving the welfare payments. One way to fix this problem is to make the people struggling to keep a job is to create a job training programs where social workers will train people who are receiving the benefits. These examples are various ways that the welfare system could possibly be more efficient. Having drug tests and house visits will discourage the recipients from trying to take advantage of

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