Nature of Welfare and Reforms

The challenge of welfare reform is that it touches deeply some of the core values that have divided us as a nation for more than the past 30 years (Bennett, 1995, p. 38). If this nation is to cope with the social changes of the future, America needs to close the gap between the symbols that have long driven politics and social reality. The welfare reform debate suggests that many people are more willing to cling to comfortable myths than confront the realities of work and family life in the 1990s. During the 1992 presidential campaign, for instance, former Vice President Dan Quayle attacked Murphy Brown, a fictitious television character, for having a child out of wedlock. Quayle attempted to stigmatize welfare recipients as irresponsible women who choose single parenthood. Even though many people scoffed at Quayle's attack at the time, Quayle's contention has been gaining in

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a family of three range from a high of $950 per month in Alaska, providing 100 percent of the cost of living, to a low of $164 in Alabama, providing 24 percent of the cost of living. Among all states, AFDC benefits provide an average of 63 percent of the cost to support a family. This percentage marks a sharp drop since 1979, when AFDC benefits provided a national average of 92 percent of a family's cost of living (Topolnicki, 1995, p. 123). Welfare expenditures are a significant, though certainly not dominant, share of federal government spending. In 1994, about 12 percent of the federal budget was spent on entitlement programs for the poor. This means that a family earning $50,000 annually typically pays about $615 a year for federal programs that support poor people, including the elderly and disabled. Contrary to Dan Quayle's perception, however, little of this goes to the families of unwed teen mothers. Only 8 percent of all mothers on welfare are under 18. Eight million households in the United States, or 12 percent of all households, fall under the poverty level and may or may not be collecting welfare. This amounts to 22 percent of all children and 13 percent of all people over 65 living under the poverty level. Some 46
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Dan Quayle's, Clinton Administration, Budget Office, Monthly AFDC, Republican Democratic, Needy Families, Effects Reform, Katz Hosansky, Blaming Victim, Welfare Recipients, welfare reform, block grants, federal government, block grant, poverty level, welfare assistance, afdc benefits, welfare programs, welfare recipients, entitlement programs, personal responsibility act, below poverty level, work-training educational programs, rainy day fund, families headed women,
Approximate Word count = 2809
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)

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