Welfare Reform's "First Real Test"

(CBS)  After months of relative inactivity during the recession, welfare rolls have surged, according to a survey conducted by the Wall Street Journal and the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Of the 30 largest states, 23 have seen an increase, with Oregon leading the way with a 27 percent rise in welfare cases in May, compared to the same time last year.

For some, welfare's slow expansion during this economic crisis is proof that the reform bill signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996 is working.

"To me it's good news," Ron Haskins of the Brookings Institution, told the Journal. Haskins helped draft the 1996 welfare reform bill as a Republican congressional staff member. "This is exactly what should happen."

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) replaced previous welfare programs as a result of the 1996 law and receives funding at both the state and federal level. TANF targets women with children and no job or very low-paying work.

As of fall 2008, roughly 1.6 million people were on the welfare rolls, the Journal reports.

"This is the first real test," Liz Schott, a welfare analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal Washington think tank, told the Journal. "We always said, how is it going to perform? How is TANF going to perform in an economic downturn?"

Extended unemployment benefits and food stamp programs, analysts believe, are a main reason for the lag in the increase of welfare cases.

Click here ($) to read the full Wall Street Journal report.

[gravyboat3000]

Snerdguy...TANF = Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

It's temporary, and families don't just sit and collect. They also help people go to school, to learn a new trade.

[Snerdguy]

Giving a handout instead of a hand up helps no one who is able bodied. Instead of giving people unemployment, they should get temporary employment or re-education for a career change if the prospects of returning to their jobs are dim. If a person is on welfare, why can't they work for their income. If it's their child, they should support it.

The government made a huge wrong turn when started paying healthy people to do nothing. That should have never happened. Instead, the government should applied itself to making sure that every able adult has some way to earn an income even if it is temporary work for the government. There are always far more things that need done than there are people to do them. There just needs to be an agency to keep things organized.

Think about how much better off our society would be right now if people were always lead with the philosophy that everyone has the right to earn a living, not an entitlement to be paid for doing nothing.

[SuperGuzman]

I totally agree with your statement and I couldn't have put it better myself.

[curious51]

TANF, which use to be AFDC, is a farce!
I rec'd it for my two boys, even after the courts ORDERED child support from their fathers.
However, I only rec'd $600 for the total for two boys over a period of 18 years, which works out to be around $2.78/month for two boys!!!
Now, the fathers of my children collect SSI, which is untouchable by child support!
So, if I were to win any winnings or when I file taxes, MY refund will be kept to repay the state for the AFDC I did get.
So, why aren't the fathers held accountable for the children they sire?

[marfran1944]

SSI is not exempt from garnishment for past due child support arrears. Check with your local child support office for assistance.

[micheleisfree]

Here's the solution:
Tax the Churches!
Not taxing the churches is NOT Separation of Church and State!

[lomtevas]

TANF is still the old welfare system: they stripped benefits but brought them back through exceptions and they put on a different label.

The real national menace is child support which feeds federal money into the states for enforcement. Downward modifications are not being granted because of this payment phenomenon and children are being deprived of a second parent.

Basically, the federal government meddled into the family and helped create this painful recession where men have to shoulder multiple households and mothers run the risk of false child abuse allegations and child dependency proceedings.

[All_pols_need_2_go]

I find it hard to believe only 1.6 million are on welfare. They must be giving a figure from one single entitlement entity. There is a lot more freebies and other welfare they renamed to something else being doled out. Just loved the story the other day about the genius in LA that proposed paying parents to DARE I SAY IT, WATCH THEIR OWN CHILDREN!! Now even the welfare folks are so broke they are doing the math and finding that just paying these people to stay home and do nothing is cheaper than giving them every feebie under the sun. Not that paying parents to watch their kids will last long economically it is still a losing proposition. How about you breed them, you feed them and watch them YOURSELF. I am so sick of paying for dumb @sses that breed.

[debinok1]

TANF is mainly designed to help single or divorcing/divorced women with dependant children, it is not desgined to keep the family together. Because of the "welfare reform"(aka TANF) they are so proud of we will see even more fathers leaving so their families can get the help they need to survive.