Welfare is a common term among many communities in the country that we live in. Welfare is financial support given to people in need. In the state that our country is in many people need helping taking care of their families. This is for multiple reasons, they are not able to find a stable and supportive job, they are disabled or a single parent with not enough income being pumped into the household. Many people in America that do not rely on public assistance believe that we shouldn’t be paying for other people’s lives. Does the government truly have a responsibility to help people in need? Over the years public assistance has changed but has it changed for better or for worse.
Poor Law
The welfare system has changed over the years; the type of support that was given to back in past years is very different from the kind of support that is given today. In the 1800’s the government wanted to help the huge amount of the poor. In 1834 the Poor Law Amendment Act was passed, this law was designed to reduce the cost of supporting the poor except in different circumstances. If the poor wanted help they would have to go into what was called a workhouse. The poor were given clothes and food this was exchanged for several hours of manual labour each day. The families were split up inside the workhouses; children were sent to do different work than their parents. However the conditions of the workhouse were very destitute so not many people chose to go into the workhouses.
New Deal
The New deal was another form of assistance that was given to people in the in the 1930’s. The new deal was established so that the poor had more opportunities. The law was reinforced in 1932, the Civil Conservation corps wanted to help the large levels of the poor and unemployed. Men from the age of 17 to 23 were sent into the woods and did labor work such as planting tree and other wildlife duties. In pay they were given $30 a month and one third of that was sent home to their family to feed the mens children and wives. When enacting this new deal Roosevelt heard a lot of backlash about raising the taxes for the rich. “ The legislation removes the safety net initiated by Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal of the 1930’s.” People believed that the new deal was used as safety net for the poor. So that they didn’t have to work as hard as other people. Other believed that it was the countries fault for having such a high low income and unemployed people they thought that there were not enough opportunities for people to work. “ Slow to come to the idea that the federal government had responsibility for poverty and for welfare.” “ maybe the economy, itself, is in fault, and as a result we, as the federal government have a responsibility to help people who’ve fallen as a result of a bad economy.”
Welfare Now
109,631,000 Americans are given benefits from one or more federally funded program.
Many people in america need assistance with taking care of their family. There are many government funded programs that people can apply for. Medicaid, the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and also Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) are some of the programs. In 1996 Bill Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work opportunity Reconciliation Act. Under this act the federal government gives an annual lump sum of money to the 50 states to use to assist the poor. But in order to receive this money the state must adhere to criteria to make sure the those that are receiving aid are being encouraged to get a stable and well paying job. One argument is that this criteria is not being meant. That many people are staying on welfare for long periods of time and are “tricking the system”. This act was supposed to help end poverty but there is a “ Failure of the war on poverty”. Too many people are still in need of this assistance.
Over the years there has been a change in the aid that is given to people in need in the country that we live in. But one this that has seemed to stay the same is that poverty has not ended. There are still millions of people in this country that rely on public assistance. The system is not balanced there needs to be equality in this system.