All Research
Commentary
Understanding the Downbeat Coverage of Encouraging Poverty Data
…Times editors in September 1996 suggested The recent gains, though welcome, ought to be kept in perspective….Peering into the future, Congress made matters needlessly worse. The welfare bill that it…
Op-Ed
Don’t Count on Those $5,000 Trump Dividend Checks
At his party’s midterm convention in Texas, President Donald Trump said that, if Republicans retain control of Congress in November, he “will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United…
Commentary
The Empty Threat That States Will Stop Operating SNAP
Last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) gave states a choice: Either limit improper payments in their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, the program formerly known as food stamps)…
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…