It’s A Stepping Stone, Not A Foundation: Is America's Welfare System developing impairments?
Updated: May 2, 2019
America, the land of the free and opportunity, has aided low income families since 1935 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt targeted issues such as unemployment and federal aid during the Great Depression. According to http://newsroom.ucla.edu, the establishment of the New Deal created the Welfare State, which would extend the Great Depression for seven more years. Although the depression ended, low-income civilians would lose a sense of independence and grow dependent to the state.
Welfare is beneficial as a stepping stone but it should not be used as a foundation to maintain financial stability.
Maintaining a high percentage of welfare assistance negatively affects taxation. The more families have consistent assistance from welfare, the greater the tax increase will be. Assistance doesn’t come from an endless pot of gold; American taxpayers are providing for this endeavor.
Middle class families are slowly becoming financially challenged due to tax rises that are providing for the low-class. There are many benefactors to the fluctuation of taxation but in order to reduce taxation, we must evaluate each factor and consider a solution that would reduce funding and continue to responsibly aid U.S. citizens.
Consistent welfare assistance diminishes independence. Families who receive welfare at a consistent rate are more likely to develop an economical impairment. This impairment causes families to remain dependent to government aid and blocks the motivation to seek economic growth.
Welfare should limit the amount of years an individual is eligible for funding. According to The Balance.com, TANF(Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program) is only provided for five years or less, and having additional children does not grant more funding. SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) requires recipients without children to work after three months. It waives the requirement for those who live in areas with high unemployment.
According to www.fns.usda.gov, SNAP is offered by receiving a notice that tells you how long you will receive SNAP benefits for; this is called your certification period. Before your certification period ends, you will receive another notice that says you must recertify to continue receiving benefits. Local SNAP offices will provide you with information about how to recertify.
Families can receive funding so long as they certify based on their income and household size.
Www.fns.usda.gov provided the requirements to receive SNAP.
· Registering for work
· Not voluntarily quitting a job or reducing hours
· Taking a job if offered; and
· Participating in employment and training programs, if assigned by the State.
It is beneficial that the mentioned programs have these requirements for certification. It would be even more beneficial if all programs under Welfare required a G.E.D or a G.E.D in progress.
If most citizens in the U.S. were to at least have a G.E.D, families can further distance themselves from the poverty line.
According to Benefits.gov, Woman, Infants and Children (WIC) is one organization through the United States Department of Agriculture that implements limits to aid. WIC educates families in need about proper nutrition for their children and provides the food supply to ensure that the child receives it.
The government would save an immense amount of money if SNAP (food stamps) were to implement the same regulations as WIC.
SNAP should create food limits per person in the family that is requesting aid. Doing this will not only save funds but teach the American family nutritional values and prevent obesity.
Instead of giving families a set amount of money, families should receive checks that would grant certain foods and a certain portion of that item.
Overall the idea of reducing funding to Welfare isn’t made for the detriment of the lower class but to uplift them out of disparity and into economic stability and financial independence.