The Massive Policy Failure That Paul Ryan Wants To Emulate
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) on Monday released a sweeping audit of the country’s anti-poverty programs, seeking to put his stamp on a second round of welfare reform. In detailing the history of these programs, he looked back fondly on the last time a welfare reform law passed: 1996. That was when the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) cash assistance program was turned into what it is today, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). “The creation of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program,” Ryan wrote, “is widely seen as the most successful reform of a welfare program.” He described the “revolutionary” changes it made: the transformation from a program where the federal government shares the costs of assistance to one where the government gives states a fixed block grant, the addition of stringent work requirements, the imposition of a five-year lifetime limit on receiving benefits, and the elimination of “the entitlement to federal cash assistance.”
The idea that this transformation is a huge success would surprise many of today’s poor families. But it depends on how one defines success.
“If they just threw everyone off the rolls, we could say no one needs cash assistance anymore, wow, what a success,” Greg Kaufmann, a senior fellow with Half in Ten, noted.
And in fact, that’s the trajectory we’re on. Today, the number of people who receive cash assistance through TANF is way down. At its peak, AFDC served 5.1 million households, according to Ryan’s report. By 2010, just 1.9 million households were enrolled in TANF. That doesn’t mean the need has dissipated. In 1996, cash assistance reached 72 percent of poor families with children. By 2012, that figure dropped to 26 percent. Just 9 percent of children in single parent homes received TANF in 2012.
full: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/03/05/3366601/welfare-reform-fail/