Welfare Reform

10 Pages 2463 Words

0, p. 41).

Hoping to turn the tide back to a self-sufficient country, President Roosevelt brought up this concern to Congress in 1935. “Continued dependence upon relief induces a spiritual and moral disintegration, fundamentally destructive to the national fiber” (Weiss, 1990, p. 41). Congress made some changes, but what they created is now known as our current welfare system.

In 1971, President Nixon called welfare programs “a monstrous, consuming outrage” referring to the large amounts of money being spent. “The year before, ADFC expenditure has amounted to $4.1 billion. Compare that to an ADFC bill of $621 million in 1955” (Weiss, 1990, p. 51). The programs were snowballing and no one seemed to know how to stop the madness that had become welfare.

Ronald Reagan would be the next one to attempt an end to ‘welfare’. He was elected president of the United States in 1980. “He came to the White House promising to cut relief spending” (Weiss, 1990, p. 65). Reagan began enforcing these cuts the moment he took office. “Regan was pleased with his budget-cutting efforts” (Weiss, 1990, p. 68). It appeared the American public was also pleased, having grown tired of spending billions of dollars to aid the poor.
· ADC
The Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) program began, calling on both state and federal funds to assist families. This program “authorized direct cash payments to children whose fathers had either died or deserted them and their mothers.” Because it was funded by both state and federal money, the American public seemed agreeable to this new philosophy (Weiss, 1990, p. 42).
· ADFC
“In 1950, the program was renamed Aid to Families with Dependent Children (ADFC) and the mothers of dependent children added to its rolls”(Weiss, 1990, p. 43). Having expanded its’ original scope, this assistance began to increase in size. Large numbers of women were relying on the government to fu...