Bienestar

The welfare system in the United States began in the 1930s, during the Great Depression. After the Great Society legislation of the 1960s, for the first time a person who was not elderly or disabled could receive aid from the American government.^[18] Aid could include general welfare payments, health care through Medicaid, food stamps, special payments for pregnant women and young mothers, and federal and state housing benefits.^[18] In 1968, 4.1% of families were headed by a woman on welfare; by 1980, the percentage increased to 10%.^[18] In the 1970s, California was the U.S. state with the most generous welfare system.^[19] Virtually all food stamp costs are paid by the federal government.^[20] In 2008, 28.7 percent of the households headed by single women were considered poor.^[21]

Before the Welfare Reform Act of 1996, welfare was “once considered an open-ended right,” but welfare reform converted it “into a finite program built to provide short-term cash assistance and steer people quickly into jobs.”^[22] Prior to reform, states were given “limitless”^[22] money by the federal government, increasing per family on welfare, under the 60-year-old Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program.^[23] This gave states no incentive to direct welfare funds to the neediest recipients or to encourage individuals to go off welfare (the state lost federal money when someone left the system).^[24] Nationwide, one child in seven received AFDC funds,^[23] which mostly went to single mothers.^[20]

In 1996, under the Bill Clinton administration, Congress passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, which gave control of the welfare system back to the states. Because welfare is no longer under the control of the federal government, there are basic requirements the states need to meet with regards to welfare services. Still, most states offer basic assistance, such as health care, food stamps, child care assistance, unemployment, cash aid, and housing assistance. After reforms, which President Clinton said would “end welfare as we know it,”^[20] amounts from the federal government were given out in a flat rate per state based on population.^[24] Each state must meet certain criteria to ensure recipients are being encouraged to work themselves out of welfare. The new program is called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).^[23] It encourages states to require some sort of employment search in exchange for providing funds to individuals, and imposes a five-year lifetime limit on cash assistance.^[20][23][25] The bill restricts welfare from most legal immigrants and increased financial assistance for child care.^[25] The federal government also maintains an emergency $2 billion TANF fund to assist states that may have rising unemployment.