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Despite a nearly five-decade war against poverty in the United States, millions of American families are no closer to escaping poverty, and taxpayers are no closer to seeing a return on their enormous investment. Since President Lyndon Johnson first rallied the troops against poverty in 1964, American taxpayers have spent $16 trillion on means-tested services and support. In 2010 alone, the U.S. spent nearly $900 billion on welfare. If the trend continues, Americans can expect to pay over $10 trillion on more than 70 federal welfare programs over the next decade. Despite this enormous annual cost of assistance for the poor, 43 million Americans are still living at or below the poverty level, a minimal decline since the 1960s.
Spending has skyrocketed with few overall results, but policymakers have a good model of success in the 1996 welfare reform legislation. By introducing work requirements for cash assistance and limiting funding to states through block grants, the 1996 legislation that reformed one welfare program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), saw welfare rolls cut in half, helping millions of families achieve self-sufficiency. The successes of the mid-1990s, however, applied only to one program. There are still more than 70 other means-tested assistance programs that are badly in need of updating.
Policymakers can build on the foundation for reform that was laid 15 years ago. By applying the same principles of frugal budgeting and employment incentives found in TANF to other welfare programs, Members of Congress can promote personal responsibility and self-sufficiency and permanently lift people out of poverty. Specifically, policymakers should:
1. Count the Cost of Welfare Programs
Few Americans or policymakers realize the total amount of taxpayer spending that goes towards more than 70 welfare programs. By requiring the President’s annual budget to disclose the aggregate proposed welfare spending, both taxpayers and members of Congress can move forward in funding what works and eliminating harmful disincentives to independence.
2. Control Spending
Instead of the continual increase in welfare spending - spurred by recessions but never halted by economic booms - policymakers should constrain the welfare budget across all programs. When unemployment reaches 6.5 percent, signaling the end of the recession, federal welfare funding should be capped at 2007 levels of spending, plus inflation. Heritage research has demonstrated that a similar cap on welfare spending could save American taxpayers more than $1 trillion by 2018.
3. Encourage Work
Reform of welfare programs should require all able-bodied recipients of assistance to work, enroll in job training, or participate in community service. Rewarding personal responsibility is one of the most effective ways to help low-income individuals achieve long-term self-sufficiency.
Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH), Chairman of the Republican Study Committee, along with Representatives Tim Scott (R-SC), Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Dan Burton (R-IN), and Louis Gohmert (R-TX) introduced the Welfare Reform Act of 2011 today, which incorporates many of the elements of the 1996 welfare reform and addresses many of these common-sense solutions. The bill requires an aggregate spending disclosure, caps total welfare funding, and places work requirements on the food stamp program.
Lifting more people out of poverty through welfare policy is possible. By recognizing the successful elements of reform enshrined in the 1996 TANF legislation and promoting the principles of personal responsibility and accountable spending, policymakers can ensure that taxpayers finally begin to see the fruit of their investment, and more impoverished people can achieve long-term independence.
Read more about the new Welfare Reform Act and how Congress can control runaway spending and empower families to get out of poverty.