INTO THE WIND… UNEMPLOYMENT AND WELFARE REFORM

• Lindsey Grant
• March 1, 1994
• Forum Papers
• Forum Paper
• 0 Comments

Click here for a downloadable, printable PDF version.

INTO THE WIND… UNEMPLOYMENT AND WELFARE REFORM
An NPG Forum Paper
by Lindsey Grant
March 1994

The President is launching his effort to reform the welfare system in a society that is undergoing tectonic changes driven by population growth, technology, and international trade arrangements. Problems that have been brewing for forty years are coming to a head, and welfare reform will not succeed unless it is seen in the context of the forces that generate unemployment.

The author is an erstwhile Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Environment and Population Affairs.

The Stacked Deck

The President hopes to submit proposals for welfare reform to Congress in early April. The general philosophy has been discussed by the administration, but the details have not been released. The reform will encompass the Food Stamp program and AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children). It may perforce include SSI (Supplemental Security Income) payments, since the Senate has just discovered that, unsurprisingly, SSI cash benefits are being used by recipients to support their drug habit.

Separately, the President on March 9th proposed a Re-Employment Act, intended to regularize unemployment compensation and consolidate some 150 governmental retraining programs. The welfare reform is priced (optimistically) at $6 billion per year when it gets running, and the Re-Employment Act at about $3 billion.

….Continue reading the full Forum paper by clicking here.