September 19, 2023
House Budget Plan Proposes Commonsense Welfare Changes
The House Budget Committee, headed by Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX), today released a draft budget proposal detailing the majority’s spending priorities and proposed changes across a range of government benefits and programs. Several policies would promote higher levels of work among welfare recipients, which is especially necessary while benefit rolls remain elevated despite plentiful job openings. According to recent research by our AEI colleague Angela Rachidi, less…
July 26, 2023
How Worker Benefits Turn into Welfare
The disparity between what the federal government collects in taxes and what it spends was never greater than during the pandemic, when annual deficits peaked at $3.1 trillion in 2020. Even today, when the president swears Bidenomics is “working everywhere,” annual deficits exceed $1.5 trillion, and are expected to only grow. One little-noticed driver of record deficits was…
June 27, 2023
House Republican Plan Penalizes Marriage
If there was something liberals used to hate most about welfare reform, it was policies that promoted more work and smaller welfare caseloads. For example, during debate about 1996 reforms, Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun (D-IL) asked what would happen to families if they didn’t meet proposed work requirements: “Do we put them on trains and send them out West?” Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) said those reforms “can only encourage a…
June 15, 2023
Testimony on Anti-Poverty and Family Support Provisions in the Tax Code
Introduction Chairman Wyden, Ranking Member Crapo, and distinguished members of Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Bruce D. Meyer, and I am the McCormick Foundation Professor of Public Policy at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. I have spent forty years researching the effects of government programs…
June 14, 2023
Why Behavioral Requirements Are Vital to Welfare Programs
Just as the welfare-to-work policies of the Clinton administration jump-started a remarkable improvement in the lives of black women, work requirements, such as those included in the recent debt ceiling bill , have proven successful in other programs. Improving behaviors is crucial if we want more struggling families to distance themselves from poverty. Unfortunately, many liberals have labeled these efforts racist,…
May 23, 2023
The White House Defender of Welfare Work Requirements
If someone asked you to name a US President who also was a longtime defender of work requirements for welfare benefits, whom might you guess? Ronald Reagan? Donald Trump? George W. Bush? These are good thoughts, but contrary to popular wisdom the answer is a Democrat. That might make you guess Bill Clinton, who signed…
May 17, 2023
Is President Biden About to Triangulate Democrats on Welfare Work Requirements?
On Sunday, President Joe Biden signaled his openness to expanding work requirements for key welfare benefits as part of the debt limit deal he is currently negotiating with Congress. Of those work requirements, Biden said: “I voted for tougher aid programs that’s in the law now. . . . And so I’m waiting to hear what…
May 4, 2023
Work Is Essential to the American Dream
Work is one of the foundations of American life. Almost always, being employed and earning income gives individuals the opportunity, responsibility, and community they need to flourish. The broader importance of work can’t be overstated. A larger workforce also contributes significantly to our general prosperity allowing us to afford, among other things, a more effective…
May 3, 2023
Work-for-Welfare Gains Traction Among Republicans
Last week, U.S. House Republicans included expanded work requirements for Medicaid, food stamps, and cash welfare benefits in their legislation to extend the federal debt limit. As employers continue to struggle to find workers, states, too, are trying to prod benefit recipients on the sidelines of the economy back into work. Republican members of the Wisconsin assembly recently approved a…
June 15, 2022
Second Time’s the Charm?
Early last year, Senator Mitt Romney proposed a new approach to family policy that exposed some significant rifts among right-leaning policy wonks who care about fighting poverty and supporting family formation. This week, Romney (together with fellow Republicans Richard Burr and Steve Daines) has offered a revised version of the idea that might just have what it takes…