The goal of welfare reform should be: to shrink the welfare system, to eliminate perverse incentives to remain on welfare, and to make work the focus of reform. Many believe the House of Representative's Family Welfare Reform Act of five years fails to do that. It proposes $5.2 billion in new spending over 1987, most to expand existing welfare programs. Proponents say the new money is an investment, that some money will go to new programs to induce welfare recipients off the rolls and into jobs. Detractors say it amounts to an expanded investment in the status quo.
The goal of welfare reform should be: to shrink the welfare system, to eliminate perverse incentives to remain on welfare, and to make work the focus of reform. Many believe the House of Representative's Family Welfare Reform Act of 1987 fails to do that. It proposes $5.2 billion in new spending over five years, most to expand existing welfare programs. Proponents say the new money is an investment, that some money will go to new programs to induce welfare recipients off the rolls and into jobs. Detractors say it amounts to an expanded investment in the status quo.