Example research essay topic: Low Income Families Families With Dependent Children - 2,030 words

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Welfare is a Welfare WELFARE Welfare is a public assistance program developed to help people who are unable to support themselves fully. It provides a minimum amount of economic security to people whose incomes do not meet a sufficient standard of living. People who receive welfare include elderly people, people with mental or physical disabilities, and those needing help to support dependent children. People in the United States most commonly use the term welfare to refer to government-funded programs that provide economic support, goods, and services to the underemployed people. (World Almanac) The current U. S. welfare system originated from the Great Depression of the 1930 s.

During the worst part of the depression, about one-fourth of the labor force was without work. More than two-thirds of all households would have been considered poor by today s standards. With a majority of the competent adult population experiencing severe financial misfortune first hand, Americans could no longer view poverty simply as a personal failing. (Encarta) The majority of Americans turned to the government for answers. U.

S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt established a social and economic reform movement to combat the Great Depression. Part of his newly enacted New Deal program was the Social Security Act, enacted by Congress in 1935. This act and it s 1939 amendments established a number a number of social welfare programs, each designed to support the diverse social and economic needs of Americans. (World Almanac) Federal and state governments in the United States support the poor people through about sixty different welfare programs. Most people receive help through one of the four major programs.

These programs are Medicaid, Aid to families with dependent children, social security, or Supplemental Security, and the food stamps program. Medicaid provides free medical care to the people who live in low-income families with dependent children and for individuals with low incomes who are elderly or disabled. Medicaid also covers those who can afford to pay for their cost of living however cannot afford medical bills. Medicaid usually includes doctors visits and nursing home care. Most funding comes from the federal government, and the rest is supplied by the state. Each state runs their own Medicaid program.

In 1994 Medicaid covered 34 million people, or about 12 percent of the total U. S. population and 46. 2 percent of Americas poor. The cost of the program has grown faster than the rate of inflation and was estimated to be $ 143. 9 million in 1994. (Encarta) Another major welfare program is Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). This program provides monetary aid to parents and children who are in need of economic assistance due to the death, continued absence, or the inability of the primary wage earner to earn an income. Woman head about 80 percent of the families on AFDC.

It also pays benefits to two-parent families if both parents are unemployed. Most of the funding for the AFDC comes from the federal government, and the states provide the rest of the money. In 1996 7. 9 million children, almost 13 percent of all children, and about 3. 9 million adults received help from AFDC in any given month. (Encarta) Most people on welfare receive more than just monetary support. All AFDC families are eligible for Medicaid health care support; and about 90 percent have received food stamps, vouchers with which they can purchase only food.

Also, almost one-fourth have received housing assistance or live in public housing. Sadly, however, only 15 percent have been actively involved in programs to help them find work. (World Almanac) Adults with disabilities or who are not able to work because of age can receive monetary support through Supplemental Security Income (SSI). SSI provides more generous assistance than AFDC. In 1995 individuals received $ 458 monthly, roughly 25 percent below poverty-level income, and couples received $ 687 monthly, or about 10 percent below poverty level.

The SSI caseload had grown to about 6. 5 million by 1995, with a yearly program cost of about $ 27 million. (Encarta) The most popular welfare program is the Food Stamp Program. This helps low-income households buy food that they could not otherwise afford. The federal government issues the stamps. The number of stamps a household receives varies with the family's size, income, and expenses.

These coupons are available to both low-income families with dependent children and households without children. 26. 6 million candidates utilize the Food Stamp program in 1995, with a cost of approximately $ 27. 5 billion. (Encarta) Another major program is Social Security Income. This provides financial Aid to people in need who are at least 65 years old, blind, or disabled. The federal government finances and administers social security income programs in most states, though some states supply the federal payment and are able to run their own programs. There are other programs which help pay for electrical and fuel bills, and public housing.

Public housing has a variety of different options. One is low cost rental apartments in government owned buildings. Also, public housing provides apartments in housing projects specifically built for low-income families or adults. Another option for eligible participants is subsidized rent in apartments or housing complexes where some of the units are reserved for the poor.

Vouchers may also be given to contribute to housing costs. The annual federal costs of these programs were over $ 23 billion in 1996; substantially less than had been spent in previous decades. (Berkowitz) In 1994 federal and state governments spent the equivalent of 5. 1 percent of the U. S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP, which equals a countrys total yearly spending) on basic welfare (not all social welfare) programs. The federal government covered more than 71 percent of these expenses, which accounted for over 16 percent of its annual budget. (Encarta) The government decides who should receive welfare, and how much they should receive based on economic standings, disability, and age.

The economic measures are based on the national mean income of Americans. People whose incomes are less than a determined amount below the national mean are considered to be living in poverty. (Berkowitz) Both society and government representatives have become gradually critical of the U. S. welfare system during the last thirty years. Not every American prospered after World War II, and in the 1970 s and 1980 s, many Americans became dependent on welfare, particularly with programs such as Food Stamps and AFDC. The government began a critical evaluation of the entire welfare system and began to consider reformation. (Berkowitz) By mid- 1990 s the government had attempted to specifically reform the AFDC.

This reformation was due to both governmental and societal concerns that welfare causes unfavorable behaviors. Many citizens and politicians claim that people on welfare had little motivation to work, marriages were being avoided or broken, and people were encouraged to have children when they are too young and unprepared. Some reformers, on the other hand, argue that existing welfare programs are insufficient and do not raise beneficiaries out of poverty, specifically the children of families receiving the benefits. (Berkowitz) In 1996 President Bill Clinton signed two congressional bills known as the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA). PRWORA directly affected the AFDC and the Food Stamp program, especially cutting back on assistance to adults with no children. Additionally, in 1997, Congress passed a balanced budget requirement that cut Medicare funding. IIRIRA was intended to stop illegal immigrants and non-citizen residents dependence on government supports.

Many politicians and citizens identified the IIRIRA and the PRWORA it welfare reform bills. (Cloward) The IIRIRA required that a legal immigrant could be eligible for benefits if they obtained citizenship before August 1996, which is the date the reform bill was signed. Many immigrants, however, could not speak or write English well enough to pass a citizenship exam. Yet many had been working and paying taxes that supported welfare programs. (Cloward) Critics of the reform contended that the reform bill punished a large segment of the working poor. Supporters, on the other hand, felt that only citizens should receive welfare benefits. President Clinton received overwhelming pressure from groups representing the concerns of immigrants, and decided to re-evaluate the reforms. Clinton restored many benefits that were cut in the IIRIRA.

This act restored SSI and Medicaid benefits for legal immigrants already receiving them as well as those who had moved to the United States at the time the president had signed welfare reform into law. Also, the new act restored some of the food stamp benefits that had been cut in welfare reform, but not for immigrants. (Cloward) I have mixed feelings about welfare. I feel like the system could use some improvements, for example, if welfare people on welfare begin to earn money, or more money than they had been earning, their benefits will decrease and their taxes will rise. This occurrence may encourage people to stay on welfare and not to find work. This situation penalizes people on welfare who work, especially when only low wage jobs are available to them.

If calculated correctly, working at a minimal wage, minus taxes, could possibly end up in a lower income then when on welfare. Another disadvantage of the system is that a young parent may be less likely to marry or stay married if being single allows them to claim welfare benefits In my opinion, welfare has many disadvantages. Many critics of the welfare system claim that providing a steady income to needy people encourages laziness and I agree with this statement. Welfare has a great possibility of discouraging people from working harder by reducing benefits if their income increases.

I disagree with the way that food stamps are administered. Personally, working at a grocery store, I have seen many people on welfare. They will buy the most expensive brands of food, never use coupons, and waste massive amounts of the government s money. Welfare also seems too costly and complex to dispense. Also, welfare regulations are not consistent. Each program has different eligibility requirements and methods of calculating benefits, and these rules vary from state to state.

Even though welfare has many disadvantages, I do think that it should exist for a number of reasons. Social Security should exist because it obviously benefits present elderly people, and will eventually benefit the majority of Americans when they reach the eligible age. It is very difficult to earn an income when you are elderly, and you have already given most of your life to work. Also, Mentally ill and physically disabled people are disadvantaged, and need help in order to stay alive. Also, I do believe that food stamps and AFDC should exist for families, especially those with children. I think that the government should closely regulate these situations, and give specific time limits on how long people can stay on these programs.

I also think that the government should increase the amount of money spent on programs helping people find jobs, and financing education. It is becoming even more difficult for people to find jobs these days that pay more than minimum wage. And face it, it is very difficult to support a family on minimum wage. In the second half of the 20 th century, businesses began moving low-skill jobs to countries that could provide cheap labor.

They also created many new, higher-skill jobs, such as those in technological and scientific research and computer programming. They often require that people move, learn new skills, or dramatically alter their living arrangements for work. If the government spent more money on helping people get an education, than fewer people would need welfare. And more people could hold their head up high with an education, and no dependence on government funds. ? Berkowitz, Edward D.

America s Welfare State: From Roosevelt to Regan. The American Moment Series. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991. Cloward, Richard A. , ed. Regulating the Poor The Functions of the Public Welfare. London: Vintage Books, 1993.

Welfare Microsoft Encyclopedia Encarta 2000. Microsoft Electronic Publishing. Welfare. World Almanac and Book of Facts. Funk &# 038; Wagnalls Corporation. 1995

Research essay sample on Low Income Families Families With Dependent Children