Monday, April 22, 1996
Reform system, push harder to get recipients working In the
winter of 1995, I joined a community service program that provided
tutoring to adults at a local welfare site. This place helps adults
on welfare improve their job search and employment skills. Over the
past year, I have learned a lot about our nation’s welfare system
and the people dependent upon it.
I started tutoring a middle-aged woman in basic literacy and
spelling skills. When we discussed what she did every day, I was
shocked to hear that she enjoyed herself at home watching Jerry
Springer and other television trash. No, she didn’t spend her time
at home studying or looking for work, or in any constructive
manner. The only reason that she came to our weekly tutoring
sessions was that the governor had implemented a program mandating
people to attend classes and/or participate in job search
programs.
So we struggled on with tutoring and reading and writing for
several months. All the while, I doubted whether she improved her
reading and writing skills. What she did gain from our weekly
exchanges was stronger motivation, respect for punctuality and
repeated encouragement and insistence from me that she find a job.
Finally, about a year after I’d started tutoring her, thankfully,
she did.
What I learned from my time at the welfare site is that people
who are on public assistance must be given significant incentive
and coercion to get off welfare. The system provides food stamps,
free medical care through Medicaid and cash assistance; in doing
so, it creates a strong incentive for people not to seek work. I am
not arguing that these assistance programs should be eliminated.
What is needed, however, is a revamping of the system and sweeping
welfare reform.
Our 60-year-old cash assistance program has not worked. Surely,
no informed individual could assert that the system has provided
benefits to society worth its cost and heartache over the past few
decades. The system was designed incorrectly, and it was inherently
equipped for failure. We cannot afford to have programs that
encourage laziness and that grant incentives for people not to
work.
Welfare should not be a way of life; it should only be a safety
net. Working Americans should not be obligated to support welfare
recipients for decades. Welfare should be a social safety net for
Americans who have had some hard luck, for Americans who are
temporarily unable to work, for single moms who need some help for
a couple of years because their children’s no-good, inconsiderate,
deadbeat dads deserted them when the going got tough.
But for no individual should welfare be a way of life. Not for
single mothers, not for the disabled, not for the poor. All of
these people can and should work; they should not become
over-dependent on welfare.
Welfare accounts for less than 1 percent of the federal budget,
some $18 billion. But most of this money is being wasted; little of
it is really helping society. We can achieve a lot more by spending
considerably less. The governor’s cuts in welfare payments over the
past few years are good for the system; welfare is becoming less
comfortable for the people on it. This will only encourage them to
look for employment with increased vigor.
Even with a few more cuts, welfare checks will still provide
enough money for survival. That’s their job, to help people
survive, not to promote a lazy or carefree lifestyle.
Bill Clinton campaigned to reform welfare as we know it. So far
he has not delivered, and that is a tragedy for America. As the
welfare debate has intensified, various new ideas have been
considered. The welfare reform bill passed by the House earlier
this year had many merits (the president later vetoed it).
The congressional plan would have forced states to push most
welfare recipients into the work force after two years, and it
would have limited lifetime benefits to a total of five years. The
legislation also provided much broader flexibility to states to
implement welfare programs. Unfortunately, the measure was greeted
with the president’s veto pen.
Over the past few months, neither party has indicated a
willingness to compromise on welfare reform. Both parties are
engaged in opportunistic political posturing; meanwhile, the public
suffers from this impasse. Washington’s inability to enact a
welfare reform bill is preventing states from transforming their
welfare programs. Both parties want to blame the other for the
failure of welfare reform.
The governor’s plan to reform our state’s welfare system is in
jeopardy because of the federal impasse. His plan would save the
taxpayers over a billion dollars. It would stop the insensible
system of rewarding women who have more babies, while on welfare,
with more money. It also would allow poor fathers to stay with
their families without jeopardizing their welfare payments (for
years, the AFDC has required the absence of a father for cash
assistance to commence). But, Wilson’s plan is on hold because the
feds can’t get their act together up in Washington, D.C.
The welfare system needs to place more emphasis on individual
responsibility. Vouchers should be given to people to retrain
themselves or gain further education. Recalcitrant recipients
should be made aware that their aversion to looking for work or
retraining themselves will lead to an end in their monthly
assistance checks.
The congressional proposals are good starting points. They
impose sensible time limits on public assistance. What the bill
lacks is a good child care provision. The legislation needs to be
redrafted to include child care assistance for women with children
who do find employment. How can you expect a mother to get back to
work if there is no one to help watch her young children? Moms need
to know that their youngsters will be safe and sound, watched
closely by child care professionals.
Sadly, conservatives have missed the significance of providing
child care to working moms. But, the president is guilty of far
more. Campaigning to reform the system as we know it, he has done
little to keep his word. The vetoed bills are back in Congress. A
child care provision should be added to the legislation. After
that, though, the president should sign the congressional reform
plan. If he does not, he has nobody to blame but himself for
inadequate welfare reform.
It’s time not only to admit that our existing welfare system has
failed us, but to do something about it. When will the politicos in
Washington realize that it’s time to get off their duffs and
deliver on welfare reform? For America’s sake, the sooner the
better.
Patel is a fourth-year political science student. His column
appears on alternate Mondays.