Welfare dependent
In accepting the Democratic nomination for president in 1992, Bill Clinton promised to "end welfare as we know it." "We will say to those on welfare: You will have, and you deserve, the opportunity, through training and education, through child care and medical coverage, to liberate yourself. But then, when you can, you must work, because welfare should be a second chance, not a way of life."
In accepting the Democratic nomination for president in 1992, Bill Clinton promised to "end welfare as we know it." "We will say to those on welfare: You will have, and you deserve, the opportunity, through training and education, through child care and medical coverage, to liberate yourself. But then, when you can, you must work, because welfare should be a second chance, not a way of life."
Republicans agreed with Clinton on that, if little else, and welfare reform became a reality in 1996. The Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program, which had been depicted as encouraging women to have babies for irresponsible men who wouldn't support them, was replaced by Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), which put a five-year limit on welfare and added a work requirement.
When welfare as we knew it ended, few envisioned that corporations would exploit the reforms, boosting profits by providing meager wages and health coverage to employees that the public would supplement.
Today, in fact, most people on welfare work. A study by the University of California, Berkeley, showed that 56 percent of federal and state dollars spent on TANF, Medicaid, food stamps, and the earned income tax credit goes to working families and individuals. Fast-food workers are prominent among them, but welfare recipients also include part-time college faculty, which sends a terrible message about the value of education.
Despite the Clinton-era reforms, welfare continues to be depicted as a "way of life" for the lazy. So concerned was the Kansas Legislature that welfare recipients might actually find pleasure in life while on the dole that it passed a law this month prohibiting the use of any government assistance to go swimming, see a movie, or get a tattoo.
Wouldn't it be great if that type of attention were paid to the corporations whose workers need government assistance to pay their medical bills and put food on the table?
Recent protests, including a march involving several hundred in Philadelphia Wednesday, have helped move McDonald's, Wal-Mart, and Target to pay workers more. But with the federal minimum wage at only $7.25 an hour, some workers might still need welfare. Raising the minimum to at least $10.10, as President Obama proposes, is essential.
Beyond that, it's time for policymakers, like the Kansas legislators who want to police poor people's tattoos, to recognize that being on welfare doesn't mean you're irresponsible.