Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: bj229r on August 21, 2006, 07:40:24 AM
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Looking back, America's disenchantment with the 1960s "War on Poverty" programs reached its zenith in the 1990s. Despite the programs' good intentions, grinding poverty, unemployment and low wages -- especially among minority males -- as well as crime, substance abuse and unwed childbearing grew unabated.
The average stay on welfare was eight years, with many mothers relying on welfare checks for 13 years, studies found. Tales of fraud, abuse and indolent, baby-making "welfare queens" abounded, as did complaints about the skyrocketing costs of welfare.
Welfare reform was a perennial legislative issue during the 1980s and 1990s, but no matter what Congress did, caseloads grew, peaking at 14.2 million people in 1994. A watershed moment came when Mr. Clinton offered his 1992 campaign promise to "end welfare as we know it." Momentum was also building in the states, where dozens of governors, led by Wisconsin's Gov. Tommy Thompson, were using federal waivers to revamp their welfare programs.
Mr. Clinton's initial welfare reform -- which would have cost an extra $9 billion -- fell to the wayside. House Republicans seized the moment and included welfare reform in their Contract With America, the banner under which the party swept into power in 1994.
Under the 1996 law, states received fixed (rather than unlimited) federal funds in exchange for flexibility in designing their own welfare programs within federal guidelines. There was a new five-year limit on federal welfare checks and a mandate for states to assist welfare recipients to prepare for, find and keep jobs -- or lose their benefits. "Work first" was the new mantra.
The welfare caseload plummeted by more than 60 percent or nearly 10 million people. As of December 2005, which ended the first quarter of fiscal 2006, the caseload stood at 4.3 million recipients and 1.8 million families, according to HHS.
Republicans and their allies are proud of the 1996 reform, which has also resulted in a lower rate of child poverty and higher rate of employment among single mothers. The welfare-reform debate showed "how 'we the people' can bring about profound change that dramatically improves the lives of millions of our fellow citizens," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told the recent Ways and Means hearing.
Before 1996, unwed childbearing rates were growing at a rate that would have taken them to 42 percent of all live births by 2003, Heritage Foundation welfare analyst Robert Rector said in his House hearing testimony. However, the welfare debate, with its focus on personal responsibility, work and time-limited welfare, helped slow the growth of the illegitimacy rate, he said. Today, just under 35 percent of births are out of wedlock, a relatively modest increase compared with the 32 percent figure in 1996.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20060821-122913-8076r.htm
Sweet, more money to spend on new weapons systems!