The programs and the size of the benefits varied widely among the states. State financed public assistance programs were often inadequate to meet the challenges of large-scale unemployment and urban poverty that often afflicted states and urban areas. State systems of public relief were simply unprepared to cope with the volume of requests for help from individuals and families without work or income.
On top of that, the economic depression reduced state and local revenues. Conditions were so grave it became necessary for the federal government to step in and help with the costs of public relief. On signing this legislation, President Herbert Hoover said:.
Immediately after assuming office in , President Franklin D. The language of the enabling legislation included these sections:. FERA was only a temporary measure. President Roosevelt sent a message to Congress on June 8, in which he outlined what he believed was necessary. She selected as key staff Arthur J. Witte, a professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin. A final page committee report was filed on January 15, and sent to the Congress for hearings two days later, accompanied by draft legislative language.
Following seven months of Congressional hearings and negotiations, on August 14, President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. The framers of the Act also recognized that certain groups of people had needs for particular services which cash assistance alone could not or should not provide. To meet these needs small formula grants for the states were authorized in relation to: Maternal and Child Health, Crippled Children, Child Welfare, and medical assistance for the aged.
A fourth program of public assistance — Aid to the Disabled — was added in The basic shape of the state-federal public welfare system formed by the Social Security Act of remained largely intact until when Congress combined the cash assistance programs serving needy adults Aid for the Aged, Blind, and Disabled into the Supplementary Income SSI program, making it a federally administered program under the U.
Social Security Administration. In , Title XX of the Act was enacted, consolidating most of the social services provisions of the various cash assistance titles into a single program of social services for needy citizens.
Under the terms of the Social Security Act of , each state had to first choose whether or not to participate in one of the new public welfare programs. Federal financial participation in the cost of benefits distributed to recipients was determined according to a formula that fixed federal reimbursement to the level of benefits established by a state. The original le ernment also agreed to pay fifty percent of administrative costs, including social services provided eligible recipients.
In addition to being limited to helping very poor persons, the state-federal welfare programs, i. Under these conditions, it was not sufficient for an individual to be eligible simply on the basis of very low income and assets. Applicants for cash assistance also had to be a member of one of the established categories, i. For many years, this limitation of public assistance programs contributed to the phenomenon of fathers voluntarily leaving a family so their children could receive public assistance.
Aid to Dependent Children ADC was established by the Social Security Act of as a grant program to enable states to provide cash welfare payments for needy children who had been deprived of parental support or care because their father or mother was absent from the home, incapacitated, deceased, or unemployed.
States were required to provide aid to all persons who were in classes eligible under federal law and whose income and resources were within state-set limits.
The Social Security Act, however, was not the first government income support provided to poor children in the United States. Several features of the new ADC program kept states from abandoning their efforts following the passage of the Social Security Act. Federal ADC aid was contingent on state contributions, and states were given considerable discretion to determine ADC eligibility and grant levels.
Concerns about whether the ADC subsidy inadvertently encouraged unwed motherhood arose early on in some states. From a federal perspective, these concerns were short-circuited by the perception that ADC was a program for families headed by widows.
The original title of the program was Aid to Dependent Children. The stated purpose of Title IV was to provide financial assistance to needy dependent children. The federal program made no provision for assisting a parent or other relative in the household although it did specify that the child must live with a parent or other close relatives to be eligible for federal aid.
It was not until that the federal government began to share in the maintenance costs of a caretaker relative the child of an unemployed parent and that parent AFDC-Unemployed Parent , effective in ; a second parent in a family with an incapacitated or unemployed parent was allowed effective in and the name of the program was changed to Aid to Families with Dependent Children AFDC.
In FY an average Assistance levels are largely determined by the states. Consequently, AFDC benefit levels vary widely. The actual disparity of these amounts has been narrowed by the availability of food stamp benefits for public assistance recipients. Food stamp benefits are inversely related to AFDC income. The federal and state governments now provide assistance to the needy aged, blind, and disabled through the Supplemental Security Income SSI program.
This agency assumed responsibility for SSI in Prior to that time, public assistance for the aged, blind, and disabled was administered by the states as adults counterpart to AFDC.
The federalization of the adult welfare categories mandated by P. Though states were originally mandated to supplement the basic federal benefit up to the level of assistance they were providing in December , and could provide optional supplements to higher levels, it was anticipated that state financial participation in SSI would decline over time as the federal benefit rose.
Actually, the Congress has effectively frozen some states into having to continue to supplement SSI benefits. This was achieved in under provisions of P. This change prohibits states from offsetting federal benefit increases by reducing their optional supplementation.
It was enacted to assure all SSI recipients actually receive an increase in their total income when the basic federal grant us periodically adjusted for inflation. One result is that the levels of SSI benefits still differ widely among states eighty years after the federal government took over the program. While most states that supplement SSI benefits would have probably adopted such a pass-through policy anyway, several have questioned whether federal government can legally mandate that they expend state funds.
For all states, the experience with SSI supplementation is a recent reminder that what Congress proposes is not always consistent with the end result. The food stamp program, began in , grew from earlier federal efforts to distribute surplus food commodities to needy people.
Major control over the food stamp program rests with the Agriculture Committee of Congress. States administer the food stamp program under contract with USDA and agree to pay 50 percent of the costs of administration within their state.
In almost every state food stamps are administered through the state department of public welfare. Until , food stamps were actually purchased by eligible needy people.
The difference between the purchase price and the allotment was known as the bonus value. This agreement was changed when it became evident that many needy persons, particularly the elderly, did not always have the amount of cash on hand to make the required initial purchase. Now eligible recipients receive stamps for only the bonus value to which they are entitled based on their income and family size.
Unlike public assistance, food stamps are not restricted to certain categories of needy people. One qualifies for food stamps based on whether or not ones income is below the standard set by USDA. This is partially the reason food stamps have become such a large problem.
For it is estimated 22 million people one out of every ten persons in the United States will benefit from food stamps. There are six major U. Learn more about how welfare programs work in the United States. Anyone receiving welfare must prove their income falls below a target. This target is some percentage of the federal poverty level.
The United States has six major welfare programs with eligibility based on income and local poverty levels:. Every program has other eligibility requirements as well. Many of the benefits from these programs don't go straight to recipients in the form of checks. They may be applied individually as tax credits.
They may also be more broadly distributed to the public in federal grants to states and local municipalities. No matter where the money is going or who gets it, these programs make up a large part of the U. As a result, there are often debates over how to fund and administer welfare. The federal government provides funding for welfare.
But the programs themselves are run by the states. Some states also expand the programs by providing additional funds. Welfare programs are often debated in Congress. It's common for Congress to discuss reducing the funding for a program that already exists. Sometimes Congress reduces funding for a program without also reducing what a state has to do for that program.
This creates what's known as an unfunded mandate. States and local governments usually end up picking up the rest of the tab for the program. For example, the federal government pays for SNAP benefits. But states pay half of the cost of administering the program. Certain kinds of unfunded mandates can also fall on the private sector.
Each welfare program has its own set of eligibility requirements. They all, though, include a maximum income requirement. These income levels are often set by the state and are based on the federal poverty level. Maximum income levels may fluctuate, depending on other circumstances in the household. These maximum income levels are part of what makes welfare programs different from entitlement programs.
While you have to prove eligibility to receive welfare program benefits, everyone can access entitlement programs if they have contributed to the program often through payroll taxes.
Even the richest Americans can receive Medicare coverage, for example, once they turn The benefits these programs pay out are often far higher than what recipients paid in. The four major U. There are six different welfare programs in the United States. Each one serves a different purpose. While many programs are welfare programs, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program is the one most often called "welfare.
Most TANF recipients are children. The June figures include , adults and over 1. Those may seem like high numbers. But they represent just a fraction of American families living in poverty. Public perception of welfare, then officially known as the AFDC, soured in the '70s. In , President Ronald Reagan's campaign highlighted a case of welfare fraud and popularized the concept of a "welfare queen.
Reagan pushed for welfare reforms and warned of how welfare created a cycle of poverty. Medicaid and CHIP provide health insurance. This allows low-income families to access medical care. In September , Medicaid helped pay for the care of more than 81 million low-income adults and children. It covers hospital care, medical supplies, tests, eye exams, dental care, and regular check-ups.
Medicaid pays for a significant portion of U.
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