America Needs Welfare Reform

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Recommended: Rise of the welfare state

Today our welfare programs give out too much money and the systems need to be reformed again. In 1996 The Welfare Reform Act was enacted and it changed the entire program for the better. However, since then, the programs have become abused and need to be reformed again. Many of the people that receive state or federal funding have more luxury items than the average middle class family. The government should check-in on the families that are receiving assistance to make sure they actually need the assistance. The government should also place more stipulations on the various welfare programs in the state. There are several people all across the country that are abusing the system that was put in place to help get people survive in a time of need. Welfare was created in the 1930s following the Great Depression to provide people with some assistance while the economy was in a low point. Welfare includes several different programs within it such as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), Medicaid and WIC (Women, Infant, Children). Those are the four most common and most abused programs that are offered in the state of Illinois. There was once a myth of a woman called “The Welfare Queen”. She was a woman, generally African American, with several children to collect benefits from, she would sit on the couch or drive around in a fancy car and it was all paid for through the government (Stein). She never worked a day in her life because it was just easier to get pregnant and receive TANF benefits. This has slowly changed over the years, now it is not just African American women, 38.8% of recipients on welfare are white but 39.8% are African American (Brain).

SNAP or Supplemental...

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...od and Service. 17 December 2013. 30 April 2014.

Association, National WIC. nwic.org. n.d. 30 April 2014.

Brain, Statistic. statisticbrain.com. 1 January 2014. 29 April 2014.

desertbeacon.com. Desert Beacon. 6 February 2012. 26 April 2014.

Falk, Gene. "The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant: Frequently Asked Questions." Research Report. 2013.

Foundation, Kaiser Family. kff.org. 4 May 2013. 30 April 2014.

Matthews, Dylan. "Welfare reform took off the rolls. It might have also shortened their lives." The Washington Post (2013): 2. 30 April 2014.

Priorities, Center of Budget and Policy. centeronbudget.org. 19 March 2014. 29 April 2014.

Saddler, Michelle R.B. dhs.state.il.us. n.d. 29 April 2014.

—. dhs.state.il.us. 2014. 29 April 2014.

Stein, Gary. "Where Are all the Couch Potatoes and Welfare Queens?" The Huffington Post (2014): 1.

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