Problem+Research

"Welfare Reform." // Current Issues //: // Macmillian Social Science Library //. Detroit: Gale, 2010. // Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context //. Web. 2 Nov. 2011. Document URL http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=Reference&disableHighlighting=true&action=e&windowstate=normal&catId=GALE%7C00000000LVZM&documentId=GALE%7CPC3021900180&mode=view&userGroupName=pl7053&jsid=03a70b61b995c8a1c829a67b96b9c4c7
 * People were betraying welfare, getting rich off taxpayer dollars.
 * People argued stating "Welfare checks are not enough money to live on.
 * Almost everyone, agreed that welfare needed reforming if it was going to reduce poverty
 * President Clinton fulfilled his campaign promise to reform welfare on August 22, 1996, with the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act
 * "Today, we are ending welfare as we know it, but I hope this day will be remembered not for what it ended, but for what it began." Clinton Stated.
 * The road to this day had been a controversial one as President Clinton vetoed similar legislation twice from the mostly Republican Congress, legislation that he felt was too severe.
 * Welfare stayed under the control of the federal government for more than sixty years and continued with few changes despite increasing criticism.
 * Because no limits were set on how long families could receive these funds, one complaint was that recipients had no motivation to find work.
 * In the years that followed, critical voices became even louder, arguing that welfare was being abused, did nothing to help poor families become self-sufficient, encouraged couples not to marry in order to qualify for greater benefits and women to have additional children to receive more aid.
 * Bill Clinton promised to change the welfare system.

" Welfare Reform Harms the Poor " by Debra Watson. Poverty. Karen Balkin, Ed. Opposing Viewpoints® Series. Greenhaven Press, 2004. Debra Watson, "Poverty and Hunger Worsen Under U.S. Welfare Reform," http://wsws.org, January 12, 2000. Copyright © 2000 by the International Committee of the Fourth International. Reprinted with permission. Document URL http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=Viewpoints&disableHighlighting=false&prodId=OVIC&action=e&windowstate=normal&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CEJ3010159254&mode=view&userGroupName=pl7053&jsid=b45e6b4e748e9874a1890d82b78ff3f4 > > > > "Welfare basics the facts about welfare: 2nd edition." // Welfare Basics - The Facts about Welfare //. Women Employed Institute, 2001. 1+. // Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context //. Web. 2 Nov. 2011.Document URL [] > > >
 * The CBPP study found that the welfare cuts had nearly offset any gains from the "longest peacetime economic recovery in US history.
 * Employment and earnings among low-income parents have increased, but benefits have been sharply cut.
 * Even with the gains due to the reduction in unemployment, the number and percentage of poor children was still higher in 1998 than in 1979.
 * There were 1.6 million more children in poverty in the US in 1998 than in 1979, even after taking into account cash assistance, other social programs and tax credits.
 * The level of support provided by the US social safety net program has reached the lowest level in a generation, with fewer poor children receiving cash assistance or Food Stamps than in any year since 1970.
 * When the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program was enacted as part of welfare reform in 1996, it contained some of the most vindictive measures aimed at the poor in the past fifty years.
 * Mounting evidence of deepening poverty in the US reveals that the welfare reform policy adopted by theClinton administration and the Republican Congress is devastating millions of US families.
 * December 1999 report entitled Recent Changes in the Impact of the Safety Net on Child Povertyfound sharp increases in extreme poverty on the one hand, and little, if any, improvement in overall conditions for the majority of children in low-income families.
 * Their research found that poverty trends, which had been documented using initial post-welfare reform data, continued into 1998.
 * Using previously unpublished statistics on child poverty for 1998, which were compiled by the US Census Bureau, their report concentrates on demonstrating the impact of welfare reform on children.
 * A homeless adult on county welfare gets $395 a month, more than in any neighboring jurisdiction.
 * There is no requirement that recipients have any roots in the county, nor is there any work requirement.
 * This United States of America was founded on the notion of self-support, of people taking care of their families, joining with neighbors to solve common problems in a humane and sensible way.
 * Those common problems would include the occasional citizen, like Huckleberry Finn's pap, who could not look after himself, and for who some public provision should be made.
 * There is no set definition of welfare. When people refer to "welfare" most often they are thinking of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families,on the streets because people are taking advantage of the extra welfare checks.
 * This program provides minimal subsidies to parents and children for up to five years in a person's lifetime.
 * The actual amount of time that a family can stay on welfare may be far less, depending on each state's policies.
 * Some people also include food stamp benefits and Medicaid benefits.
 * Other programs that might also qualify as welfare include veterans' benefits, unemployment insurance, disability insurance, Social Security, farm subsidies, tax subsidies and corporate subsidies.
 * Many U.S. households have at least one member who receives a direct entitlement benefit from the U.S. government

Sulzberger, A.G. "States Adding Drug Test as Hurdle for Welfare." // New York Times //11 Oct. 2011: A1(L). // Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context //. Web. 2 Nov. 2011.Document URL http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/NewsDetailsPage/NewsDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=News&disableHighlighting=false&prodId=OVIC&action=e&windowstate=normal&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CA269305261&mode=view&userGroupName=pl7053&jsid=1691e24f58431a3c278065df3f334aad

" The Myth of Widespread American Poverty " by Robert Rector. Inner-City Poverty. Tamara L. Roleff, Ed. Contemporary Issues Companion Series. Greenhaven Press, 2003. Excerpted from "The Myth of Widespread American Poverty," by Robert Rector, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder, September 18, 1998. Copyright © 1998 by The Heritage Foundation. Reprinted with permission. Document URL http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=Viewpoints&disableHighlighting=false&prodId=OVIC&action=e&windowstate=normal&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CEJ3010292207&mode=view&userGroupName=pl7053&jsid=eab3d9e34a5354d7735542dd2ed0c77a