It appears that many Americans are stuck in the 80’s when it comes to understanding the state of Welfare in 2010. Let me bring you up to date. On August 22, 1996, President Clinton signed welfare reform legislation, effectively “ending welfare as we know it.” The legislation eliminated the generous benefits contained in Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) in favor of the limited benefits of the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). New rules applied, requiring all able bodied adults to work, and for families to move from “welfare to work.” Strict limits were placed on the length of time a family could spend in the program (states had latitude on limits, and most chose 2 years as the limit, some up to five years for extreme cases). Fifteen years later the results are mixed.
In one sense, welfare reform has been extremely effective, reducing the welfare rolls from nearly 15 million in the early 90’s to less than 4 million in 2009. As a percent of the total population, the number of recipients of welfare is at the lowest level ever.
Pre-reform, the knock on welfare was that it created “an endless cycle of generational poverty.” This was hotly debated with many studies showing that the abuses of welfare were small and inconsequential. Still, both Democrats and Republicans found it politically rewarding to push for welfare reform. Today, over half of TANF recipients are on the program for less than 4 months, and over two-thirds for less than a year. The days of endless welfare support are virtually gone. Yet the perception of the welfare queen endlessly abusing the system at enormous tax-payer expense lingers on.
The worst fears of welfare reform did not materialize in the high-employment years following its passage. The economy easily absorbed those transitioning from welfare to work, providing new skills, hope, and economic improvements for many. It was not all good news of course. Many people found work in low-paying, mind-numbing jobs with no future, no healthcare, and no real improvement to their lives, but, hey, they were off the dole.
The question today, amidst the worst employment environment since the Great Depression, is, have we gone too far?
There are now roughly 40 million Americans living below the poverty line, the majority women and children.Although 10.6 million, slightly more than two thirds, of adult women in poverty have health insurance to help cover costs, another 4.9 million (32 percent) are not covered. For nutritional support, 5.9 million women in poverty are using food stamps, but 9.6 million (62 percent) are not. Meanwhile, fewer than 750,000 poor adult women with children receive cash aid through TANF while 5.4 million — a substantial majority of women in poverty with children (88 percent) — do not get that support.
Making the rolls decline got to be a badge of honor for states," says Ron Haskins of the Brookings Institution, who led the Republican staff on the House panel that wrote much of the welfare reform law. "The evidence now is that it is not a very good safety net."
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