WELFARE REFORM
In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared the federal government's "War on Poverty." Since the onset of the "War on Poverty," U.S. taxpayers have devoted huge sums of money to providing cash, food, housing, medical care, and social services to poor and low-income Americans. In constant dollars, total welfare expenditures have nearly tripled since 1975 and have increased ninefold in three decades.
From 1965 to the present, the taxpayers have spent $5.4 trillion on various forms of welfare assistance. Though the costs are staggering, far more alarming has been the welfare system's failure to achieve results. It is now apparent to taxpayers and Members of Congress, except those with a vested interest in continuing Washington's "poverty industry," that the welfare system does not work -- in fact, it is reaping vast social harm. (1)
In 1992, President Clinton pledged to "end welfare as we know it." Two years later, the Republicans in Congress seized the President's initiative and included welfare reform in their 10-point "Contract With America."
As a result, welfare reform has become a source of much Congressional debate, media attention, and will likely play a major role in the upcoming Presidential election.
The current welfare debate gives IUGM missions an unprecedented opportunity to be a resource to America's leaders as they overhaul a 30-year-old system that, most agree, is fatally flawed.
Why is Congress Dealing with Welfare Now?
The drive to reform America's welfare system is powered primarily by two factors -- the recognition that the current welfare system is flawed and a similar recognition of the need to reduce the federal budget deficit. Indeed, Republican House leaders have said any effort to overhaul the welfare system should result in less federal spending.
Among Republicans, one primary goal is to end the entitlement status of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). AFDC, an integral part of the welfare system, is the nation's largest cash entitlement. As an entitlement, AFDC is automatically available to those who meet eligibility criteria.
Targeting AFDC is prompted in part by the program's rampant growth. Since 1989, the number of AFDC recipients has swelled 10% to about 14 million people in 5 million families. Nearly one in seven children nationwide receives AFDC. This federal/state program costs $23 billion annually, plus $2.7 billion in administrative costs.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ACTION
In March, the House passed a far-reaching welfare bill (H.R. 4) that limits eligibility for welfare by eliminating the "entitlement" status, forces recipients to work within two years of receiving aid, discourages out-of-wedlock births, and restrains spending on anti-poverty programs in part by consolidating some of them into state block grants.
Provisions of H.R. 4 Related to the Work of IUGM Missions are:
Welfare recipients would have to work within two years after receiving benefits. (President Clinton last year proposed a similar two-year limit.) If a recipient is unable to find a job, the state would be expected, but not required, to help him/her leave the welfare rolls by doing such things as locating jobs for them, subsidizing their wages, and arranging child care.
Time limits
With few exceptions, no one could receive welfare checks for more than five years. However, anyone who hit that limit could still qualify for other social services, such as public housing, food stamps, and health care coverage through Medicaid.
Who gets welfare checks?
Generally, states would decide who gets welfare checks. However, there are provisions in H.R. 4 that prevent states from distributing federal funds in the form of welfare checks to unwed mothers under the age of 18. States also could not give federal welfare checks for children born to a mother already receiving welfare, anyone who is not a U.S. citizen, drug addicts, alcoholics, and certain disabled children.
So who would qualify for welfare?
Each state would make that decision. The Republican approach is to let states basically run their own welfare programs. The idea is that states are better able to respond to local needs in trying to move welfare recipients into jobs.
SENATE OUTLOOK
In May, the Senate Finance Committee chaired by Senator Bob Packwood (R-OR), approved the welfare overhaul bill which follows the same general approach as that of the House bill, H.R. 4.
Highlights from the Committee-approved bill are:
Block grants to states
The Senate bill abolished entitlement to welfare checks and gives states the flexibility to determine the eligibility criteria.
Restrictions on aid
Similar to the House bill, the Senate bill doesn't allow adults to receive welfare payments for more than five years. Also, the bill would give states the option to deny assistance to non-citizens.
Adults receiving welfare benefits for two years would be required to participate in work activities. To facilitate this requirement, the federal government's training program Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training Program (JOBS) would be retained.
States would be required to guarantee child care to welfare recipients with children younger than 6 years old who need it to participate in JOBS activities.
Substance abuse recipients
Individuals would no longer be eligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) -- a cash benefit program for the low-income, aged, blind and disabled -- if drug addiction or alcoholism contributed to their disability.
In June, Senate Democratic leaders unveiled a welfare overhaul plan in a bid to help shape Congress's rewrite of the nation's welfare laws. It would impose their own version of time limits and work requirements on welfare recipients.
The key difference between the Democratic and Republican plans is Democrats want to keep the 60-year-old federal guarantee of cash assistance to all eligible low-income mothers and children. Republicans do not. Republicans see this provision as encouraging out-of-wedlock births and the beginning of the long cycle of dependency on the federal government.
The Democrats also believe that more money needs to be set aside to help welfare recipients get jobs.
Welfare legislation has not passed the Senate. Floor debate on the Senate version of welfare reform is scheduled to continue in early September, just days before Mission Directors arrive in Washington. (Even if a Senate welfare reform bill is passed before Mission Directors arrive, the debate will continue as the House and Senate move toward a conference period when they resolve differences between their respective bills.)
PRESIDENTIAL OUTLOOK
President Clinton said he was disappointed in the House version of the welfare reform bill because it was "weak on work." The President criticized H.R. 4 for lacking job training programs that help make the transition from welfare to work easier while forcing welfare mothers to work without compensation or assistance with child care. President Clinton largely supports the alternative Democratic welfare reform bill in the Senate.
What Does Everybody Agree With?
From Clinton down, everybody agrees that the welfare system is flawed and needs to be improved.
The IUGM is one of the largest providers of social services in North America. With more than 80 years of experience, rescue missions are experts in providing effective and cost-effective services to the homeless and the needy.
More importantly, IUGM missions across the nation provide programs that work. IUGM missions are getting the homeless and the poor back into the mainstream of society by attacking the primary causes of homelessness.
programs eliminate dependency, promote responsibility, and encourage self-sufficiency.
IUGM missions are cost-effective because they have little or no bureaucracy, offer no cash entitlements, rely on private donations, and utilize volunteers. They are successful because they focus on the whole person, healing the physical, mental, educational and spiritual needs of society's most hurting members.
IUGM missions provide models of effective compassion for the poor which many of America's elected leaders are desperately seeking to replicate.
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(1) "Addressing Illegitimacy: The Root of Real Welfare Refrom," Hertitage Foundation, April 1995.
© Copyright Russ Reid Company September 18, 1995
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