|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Clinton's New Deal? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 'The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present . . . We must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 'Abraham Lincoln | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 'In the summer of 1996, the "Do something, Do anything" Congress raised the minimum wage from $4.25 an hour to $5.15 an hour, passed a Bill guaranteeing the portability of health insurance and curtailing the "pre-existing condition" scams, and, most importantly, abolished the 60 year-old Aid to Families with Dependent Children Tar-baby! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 'This Congress has forever changed the lives of everyone in our great country; some for their good, others for the good of our nation. It is true that, maybe, the minimum wage law of our country hurts small businesses, and its effect on poverty is, most often, too little-too late; however, this little bone, cyclically offered up from our governmental Barons, give the appearance of a caring, "I feel your pain" beauracracy; Sadly, most of the masses are more than satiated with this bone. It can also be said that big businesses profit from a high worker turnover; resulting in less health care cost to the company, due to excessive 89th day, of a 90 day probationary period, layoffs! Congress, after derailing Clinton?s attempt to lead this great nation into a socialistic healthcare nightmare, has taken a needed step toward alleviating the primary concerns of our nation?s employed. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 'After taking these steps, Congress leapt the canyon of fiscal irresponsibility, that has hog-tied our economy for over 60 years, and hand-carried the tar-baby of welfare back to where it belonged. Back to the States. No longer will this step-child from hell be allowed to run rampant, wreaking fiscal havoc throughout our nation?s economy. With the abolishment of AFDC, Congress has finally put a spending cap on one of the most fiscally disastrous, social experiments our country has seen. This feat of Congressional responsibility surpasses, in terms of what is best for a nation, the fall of the communist economies throughout eastern Europe! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 'The best part is that we made Clinton sign it! On August 22, 1996, we actually caught the greatest of all wafflers between a rock and a hard place and forced him to make his stand! True, he borrowed our stand, and subsequently reaped the political benefits, but we, of the GOP, were more than willing to let him "end welfare as we know it," especially when, ironically, the man who pledged in 1992 to "add $10 billion for programs that move people from welfare to work" ended all federal entitlements and cut $56 billion . . . in welfare spending (Alter 44). With interest spending increasing from 1.2 percent of our GDP in 1980 to 2.8 percent in 1994, and entitlement spending increasing from 6 percent in 1962 to 12 percent in 1994, while discretionary spending was squeezed down from 13.5 percent in 1962 to 8 percent in 1994, and with projections indicating that by 2015 all federal tax revenue will be consumed by interest and entitlement spending, leaving no funding for things like education, highways, and national defense (McConnell 376), it was paramount that we forced this through. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 'What did we actually do? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 'The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (HR3734) replaces six decades of federal policy with a reliance on states? ability to more effectively regulate and distribute transfer payments to those who qualify. Since it would, theoretically, be an economical disaster to balance our federal budget, and states must balance their budgets, it was fiscally necessary that we let the states shoulder the burden of welfare. The only guidelines required by the federal government are that most adults on welfare are to be gainfully employed, as defined by the state, within two years of receiving their benefits, and that states can?t use federal moneys to pay benefits to a family unit after five years (Kaus 65). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 'The states will conduct their own experiments in welfare. Some, having jumped the proverbial gun, have all ready reaped the benefits of entitlement "tough-love". In Wisconsin, welfare rolls have been reduced by 27 percent, saving taxpayers $16 million every month, while in Michigan, 70,000 welfare recipients are gainfully employed, and welfare caseloads for the state have fallen to the lowest level in 21 years, saving taxpayers over $100 million! In Massachusetts welfare caseloads were reduced from 114,000 recipients in 1992 to 89,000 last year, saving over $160 million a year! In Michigan last year, the number of working families reached a record high, and teen pregnancy fell to a ten year low, while the infant mortality rate dropped to 9.5, the lowest in Michigan history (Engler). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 'The federal government will still fund welfare; however, payments will be block grants, and the funding cap will remain at $16.4 billion annually until 2001. The amount of funding to each state is determined by how much it received for AFDC, JOBS, and emergency funding for social programs, in fiscal years 1995, or 1994, or the average of fiscal 1992-1994, whichever is higher. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 'States are allowed to spend their block grants "in any manner reasonably calculated to accomplish the purposes" of HR3734; however, only 15 percent of the funds may be spent on administrative costs, except for technological upgrades in their monitoring systems. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 'Additional federal funds are available to states that show a dramatic decline in out-of-wedlock births, and supplemental funding will be given to states that have above average population growth and below average welfare benefits per recipient. States that are successful in meeting the legislative goals will be eligible for an additional $1 billion in bonuses from fiscal years 1999 to 2003. A contingency fund will be in place for states with high unemployment or rapidly growing food stamp rolls. The unemployment rate must be at least 6.5 percent in the most recent three-month period, and at least 10 percent higher than in the comparable quarter of either of the previous two years, while the number of food stamp recipients in the most recent three-month period must be at least 10 percent higher than the comparable period of 1995 or 1994, whichever is lower. There will also be a $1.7 billion revolving loan fund, through 2001. States will be required to repay the loan within three years, and the loan will be available only to those states in good standing of HR3734. The loan limit will not exceed 10 percent of their annual block grant (Katz). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 'Additional changes include cutting food stamps for "able-bodied" persons between the ages of 18 and 50; Reorganizing federal child care assistance programs; Restating qualifications for children to receive disability payments; Giving states the option to deny benefits to unwed mothers and legal immigrants; Toughening child support enforcement laws (Charters). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 'I think Senator Phil Gramm (Rep. Texas) said it best: "If you are able-bodied and on welfare, we?re going to find you training, and we?re going to help you find a job, but you will reach a point where you have to go to work." Up until the third week in this quarter, I shared the reasoning of the liberals when they said that "AFDC accounted for less than 1 percent of the federal budget, and that half of all recipients leave the program in the first year; 75 percent within two years, and that welfare reform was much ado about nothing (Herbert A17)". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 'William Shakespeare | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Works Cited | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alter, Jonathan.';"Washington Washes Its Hands."';Newsweek.';August 12, 1996';42-44 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Borko, Monica."Points Of Disagreement, And Agreement, On The Welfare Bill."New York Times.;August 1, 1996.;A24. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Buckley, William F. Jr.;"Big Day For Federalism." National.;October 28, 1996. 82. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Charters, Nicole.;"New Deal Gone Bad.";December 1996.;Macroeconomics Thesis Paper. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Engler, John.	"Welfare Reform Update May 1995."	America On-line. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Greenburg, Mark and Steve Savner. "A Brief Summary Of Key Provisions Of The Temporary | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assistance For Needy Families Block Grant Of HR3734."Washington, DC: Center For Law And Social Policy.;August 13, 1996. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Herbert, Bob.;"Welfare Hysteria."New York Times.;OP-ED;August 5, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1996.;A17. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ivans, Molly.;"Welfare Farewell.";The Progressive.v60n9.September 1996.;46. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Katz, Jeffrey L.;"Welfare Overhaul Law.";Congressional Quarterly. 54.38.1996.;2696- | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2705. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kaus, Mickey.;"Clinton's Welfare Endgame."Newsweek.;August 5, 1996.;65. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| McConnell, Cambell R. and Stanley L. Brue.;"Cut Entitlements To Reduce The Deficits?";Macroeconomics.13th ;;Edition.;New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996. 376- 377. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Schlesinger, Arthur Jr.;"The Real Roosevelt Legacy.";Newsweek.;October 14, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1996.;43. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Back | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||