A History of U.S. Federal Welfare Policy (by soc 249 student Caneel Fraser)

- 1935 – Congress Passes the Social Security Act

· AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) established

- 1960s –70s – Welfare Rights Movement – detailed by Piven and Cloward in Poor People’s Movements, Chapter 5

· King v. Smith (1968) – Welfare eligibility standards are legally enforceable rights, laying the foundation for welfare as an individual entitlement

· Goldberg v. Kelly (1970) – Welfare benefits are a matter of statutory entitlement (for those who meet eligibility requirements); guarantees procedural due-process is applicable in termination of benefits

- 1980s – Welfare Rights Backlash

· 1984 - Charles Murray publishes Losing Ground

· Reagan’s criticisms of “big government” and characterizations of “welfare queens”

- 1988 – Family Support Act passed

· First effort to “reform” welfare; introduces a concentration on jobs and employment

· Severely under-funded; reforms generally viewed as unsuccessful

- 1994 – “Republic Revolution”

· Newt Gingrich and others capitalize upon and strengthen anti-welfare sentiment, linking it to “family values” and notions of the “deserving” vs. “undeserving” poor

- 1996 – Clinton signs the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) – “changing welfare as we know it”

· AFDC replaced by TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families)

· Devolving power over welfare administration to the states with incentives and requirements for reducing caseloads

· Mandates a “work-first” approach to assistance

· Establishes lifetime time limits on aid

· Explicitly ends entitlement to government assistance

- 2002 – Welfare Reform up for reauthorization in Congress