All Research
Blog Post
Welfare Reform and Its Discontents
…Changed, and Why It Matters: Poverty Measurement in the U.S. and Its Implications for Policy,” 2022, Working Paper, Tables 2 and 3 https://sites.nd.edu/james-sullivan/files/2023/04/Han_Meyer_Sullivan_Poverty_v21.pdf. Matt Weidinger and Angela Rachidi, “Designing an Opportunity-Based…
Op-Ed
Did Fraud Drive Blue States’ Pandemic Unemployment Funds?
It’s a depressingly familiar story: taxpayers lost a massive amount of money to waste, fraud, and abuse during the pandemic. On unemployment benefit checks alone, official government estimates suggest almost $200 billion in “improper…
Testimony
Welfare Reform at 30: Major Effects and Lessons for Additional Reform
…is Matt Weidinger, and I am a Rowe Scholar in the Center for Opportunity and Social Mobility at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Before joining AEI, I served for over two decades on the staff of the…
Report
A Review of the Wide Variation Across States in Federal Pandemic Unemployment Benefit Funding
Abstract Federal lawmakers created major temporary unemployment benefit programs during the pandemic, which collectively distributed a record $700 billion to unemployed individuals nationwide. Little attention has been paid to wildly divergent…
Op-Ed
The Path Ahead for Welfare Reform
In the years since the landmark 1996 welfare reform law — which marks its 30th anniversary today — policymakers have missed opportunities to apply its lessons and expand its reach to…
Op-Ed
Status Defines Friendship for Too Many Americans
…In one of many poignant lines from the report, one interviewee said bluntly, “I don’t have anybody that I feel like I matter to.” Friendships, purpose and opportunity are built…
Op-Ed
The Ongoing Battle to Defend Welfare Reform
…surge as time limits and work requirements curbed reliance on welfare benefits. In reality, as noted by our colleague, Matt Weidinger, falling dependency was accompanied by surging employment among single mothers and…
Op-Ed
Thirty Years Later, Welfare Reform Is Still a Model That Works
As the 30th anniversary of the historic 1996 welfare reform law approaches on August 22, its legacy remains remarkably positive. Official government data confirm the law’s results include more work…
Commentary
Lessons from the 1996 Welfare Reform Law Approaching Its 30th Anniversary
…Welfare Reform Angela Rachidi, Matt Weidinger, and Scott Winship, A Safety Net for the Future: Overcoming the Root Causes of Poverty, October 2022 Matt Weidinger, Missing the Big Picture on…
Op-Ed
Trump Takes Dramatic Step Toward Curbing Rampant Fraud in State Unemployment Programs
The Trump administration is threatening to use “every available enforcement tool” to compel states to better protect unemployment benefits against fraud and abuse, which is elevated following an especially severe…
Op-Ed
Americans Still Believe in Work. The AI Crowd Hasn’t Gotten the Memo
When a famous right-wing tech titan, several liberal senators, and even the president of the United States simultaneously call for massive new work-free government handouts, it’s worth taking note. It remains…
Op-Ed
Safety Before Kinship
…a court-ordered program, for example, may demonstrate nothing more than a desire to stay out of jail. It’s not that these factors don’t matter when it comes to, say, whether…