One thing I did not see right away with all this government spending was how this Obama administration was affecting the welfare system as a whole. I read an article the other day that mentioned this topic. Basically in 2 months, this administration has completely wiped out the welfare reforms of the last decade.
Before 1996, welfare was given to the states based upon how many people they had on their roles, effectively giving bonuses to states for putting more people on welfare. The reforms since 1996 restricted welfare funding to a set amount and was not dependent on the number of recipients. There were also goals and requirements for both states and welfare recipients to better themselves and prepare for employment.
All this has disappeared with the stimulus bill. The bill promises federal funding based upon how many welfare recipients the states add to their rolls. Many congressmen may have not noticed it either since none of them actually read the final version. But I imagine a lot them know what they did.
I am not trying to say that the welfare program was perfect before, but this recent decision by the Obama administration definitely has set back the program. I hope this is something the administration fixes because the reforms were actually working.
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