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Nya Cummings
Professor Euridge
ENC1102 (194614)
16 July 2020
Policy Proposal Paper: Is Welfare too “well”?
Welfare has supported millions of low-income households since the mid 1930s. From providing
direct assistance where it is needed to reducing the crime rates in many poor & middle-class
areas, everyone can agree it has helped many people in our community. Most welfare programs
are designed to help people get back on two feet with no help. Children are one of the primary
beneficiaries who live and depend on welfare and government assistance. It is common that a
teenage mother gives birth to an unanticipated child and is now left with no education nor
income to support herself, let alone another life, and now needs some form of help.
Unfortunately, some commotion has arose when the topic of welfare comes up at a table full of
members of the Congressional Budget Office. In 1996 “The New Welfare Law” included nearly
$55 billion in cuts in low-income programs leaving most of the families to financially suffer or
relocate to even poorer neighborhoods. It is evident some adjustments need to be made.
What exactly initiated this ruling? Let’s start with the simple fact that welfare is
considered “unable to support the modern household”. Families who gain access to this free
money are typically still struggling to make ends meet being that too much income can get these
benefits cut off. The Welfare system is also known to create a system of abuse, reported and
unreported. In addition, government assistance has created a cycle of dependence leaving
individuals too comfortable with no desire to go out and get a job. The final cause of this budget
cut is the substantial costs of welfare programs leaving republicans and democrats to ask, “Is it
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worth it?”. The reality of the program is if you accumulate “too much” money you do not need
these benefits because you can support yourself. An inexpensive way to address and gradually
fix this conflict is to require more welfare candidates to accumulate a job in which financially
supports to a higher degree before being approved for further benefits.
With new investments in education and training as resources devoted to helping these
low-income individuals locate jobs, welfare budget-cuts will not be such a burden (Collier 7).
Most of these low-income families have trouble adopting jobs because they simply cannot find
them. With the assistance of a few scattered professionals, these individuals can be assisted with
locating and receiving these job opportunities. These people lack confidence and support from
our community leaving them with the feeling of not being good enough to go out and get these
jobs. If provided with more education on interviewing and professionalism many of these poor
