Word: reform
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...focus of the reform movement, and the central problem, is AFDC. It is not the only welfare program; the Reagan Administration has issued a much disputed count of 59 federally assisted plans that it considers welfare. Nor is AFDC the biggest; Medicaid accounts for nearly three times as much spending. But AFDC is the principal program that gives cash to people who are neither sick nor disabled; they qualify solely because they have children they cannot support. As such, it is the program that most people think of when they use the word welfare...
...central idea of the reform movement is a "new social contract" between government and welfare recipient. That concept is not just a vague metaphor: a project in California requires AFDC applicants to sign individual contracts pledging to return to school, enroll in training programs or look for jobs. The welfare-reform report that the National Governors' Association is expected to approve this month calls for making such a system nationwide...
Controversy still rages around many details of a welfare-reform program. Should work be required only from mothers of school-age children (roughly age 6 or older) or from parents of youngsters as young as 3? What should be done about mothers who continue to have babies and thus avoid the work requirements? What should be done about welfare parents who refuse to work or drop out of training programs; if their benefits are cut off, would that not amount to punishing the children for the sins of the parent? And will jobs be available in an economy where...
Some experts believe the economic climate is about to turn propitious for welfare reform. The competition for jobs that resulted when the baby-boom generation reached working age is becoming a thing of the past. In the 1990s fewer people -- those born during the baby bust, the period of low birth rates that began in 1965 -- will be looking for jobs. Says the Domestic Policy Council: "The baby bust will make it easier to lift America's welfare recipients up from dependency. Plenty of jobs will be available in the private economy, and at wage rates that will provide...
...political climate is also propitious for overhauling the welfare system. AFDC is such a mess that, as presently administered, it has few staunch defenders. Liberals and conservatives, despite continued squabbling, have reached a rare measure of agreement on at least the essentials of a reform plan. That agreement is seconded by most welfare recipients; the New York report, like most other studies, finds that "evidence from around the country indicates that most people who receive public assistance would rather work." The task during the period of experimentation that is beginning is to find the best and most practicable...