economic reform in 1996 essays

economic reform in 1996 essays In August of 1996, a welfare reform was passed that took power away from the federal government and gave it to the states so that the states could develop their own personal ways of dispersing welfare. With the reform, each state is given a block grant by the Federal government and is met with little Federal regulation. In this reform, Clinton applied a family cap in hopes to discourage pregnancy among welfare recipients and also a few financial incentives for those who married. The new legislation also put limits on how long a person can be on the welfare program. The 1996 welfare reform changed welfare from what it use to be, a relatively liberal institution, to what it is now, a sort of middle ground between the liberal view and the conservative. With the devolution of power from the federal government to the state, there no longer is one basic welfare program. Welfare varies very much from one state to the next and in some cases, from one county to the next. The power is very much spread out and many of the approaches entail subjective judgment. By and large, these responsibilities are falling to welfare caseworkers.(Dan Froomkin) With welfare caseworkers making subjective judgments on who needs financial assistance and who doesnt, it eliminates a large number of undeserving recipients. Our past welfare system had plenty of loopholes to slip through where now most of them have been eliminated. The reform has forced many past recipients to seek employment and has freed up more government money. The down side to caseworkers making subjective judgments is that it opens up the possibility that a caseworker might deny a legitimate case for assistance out of his or her own prejudice. Referring to the past welfare setup, Dan Froomkin of the Washington Post says, ...for all its drawbacks, it ensured a certain kind of blind fairness. ...