Social Welfare in American History

FDR Social Security Unemployment Insurance

Fair Deal - Truman Truman’s Domestic Policy Plan Problem: Conservative Congress Passed Desegregate military: Executive Order 9981 National Housing Act Raised minimum wage from $.40 to $.75/hr Tried to implement, but failed Civil Rights Weaken segregation Lynching a federal crime Outlaw poll tax (not ratified until 1964) National Health Insurance Government commitment to full employment Truman’s domestic policy Had lofty goals to add progressive reform, but opposition in Congress only allowed for a few changes. He was able to pass… Desegregate military: Executive Order 9981 National Housing Act Provided low income housing Raised minimum wage from $.40 to $.75/hr Tried to implement the following, but failed… Weaken segregation Lynching a federal crime Outlaw poll tax (not ratified until 1964) National Health Insurance Bill to commit the US government to maintain full employment

New Frontier - Kennedy Campaign – 1960 - TV Camelot Conservative Congress rejected Education aid, health care support, urban renewal Success was limited Modest increase in minimum wage to $1.25/hr Low income housing building (slum clearance) – created jobs Manpower Retraining Act – retrain the unemployed Area Redevelopment Act targeted poor areas like Appalachia Favored lower taxes on business to allow growth and therefore employment Campaign – 1960 - TV Camelot – the influx of new, young minds in the Kennedy administration were idealists discussing change Congress was not too keen on passing his ideas: education aid, health care support, urban renewal Economic downturn in early 60s Modest increase in minimum wage to $1.25/hr Increase in Social Security benefits (encourage early retirement) Low income housing building (slum clearance) – created jobs Manpower Retraining Act – retrain the unemployed Area Redevelopment Act targeted poor areas like Appalachia Favored lower taxes on business to allow growth and therefore employment Water Pollution Control Act/ Clean Air Act Women’s Rights President’s Commission on the Status of Women: Eleanor Roosevelt – examine employment policies in place for women

Great Society Two goals: social reform & elimination of poverty/racial injustice Democratic Congress War on Poverty VISTA – Volunteers in service to America – train poor and illiterate to read and write Food Stamp Act Head Start (teach preschool urban kids) Upward Bound (assisted poor high school kids entering college) Highway Beautification Act – clean up highways Medicaid & Medicare Two goals: social reform & elimination of poverty/racial injustice Democratic Congress War on Poverty – Poverty is the bane of society. Drain on economy, malnutrition, Felt he could get rid of poverty Civil Rights Civil Rights Act 1964 Voting Rights Act 1965 War on Poverty VISTA – Volunteers in service to America – train poor and illiterate to read and write Food Stamp Act Head Start (teach preschool urban kids) Upward Bound (assisted poor high school kids entering college) Highway Beautification Act – clean up highways Medicaid & Medicare

Nixon & Ford 1972 – Pell Grant 1975 – Earned Income Tax Credit – Low to moderate income tax credit (boosted by Reagan) A Pell Grant is a subsidy the U.S. federal government provides for students who need it to pay for college. Federal Pell Grants are limited to students with financial need, who have not earned their first bachelor's degree The earned income tax credit (EITC), first proposed in the early 1970s, was signed by President Ford. It was later substantially expanded by President Reagan, who deemed it “the best anti-poverty, the best pro-family, the best job creation measure to come out of Congress” Originally, the EITC was supposed to be a temporary refundable tax credit for lower-income workers to offset the Social Security payroll tax and rising food and energy prices. The credit was made permanent by the Revenue Act of 1978. The EITC was considered both an anti-poverty program and an alternative to welfare because it incentivized work. 

Clinton and Obama 1996 – TANF – Temporary Assistance for Needy Families 2010 – Affordable Health Care (Obamacare) The TANF program was created in the 1996 welfare reform legislation and is the successor to Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC).  The AFDC program had become synonymous with the term welfare and TANF is often thought of in the same way.   Fueled in part by the increased number of welfare caseloads and the rate of non-marital births, AFDC came under more and more scrutiny.   Critics of the Program argued that it was ineffective at reducing poverty, promoted dependency on the government and encouraged behaviors detrimental to escaping from poverty. Beginning with President Ronald Reagan’s administration and continuing through the first few years of the Clinton administration, growing dissatisfaction with AFDC, particularly the rise in welfare caseloads, led an increasing number of states to seek waivers from AFDC rules to allow states to more stringently enforce work requirements for welfare recipients. Over this timeframe many states received waivers to adopt various welfare-to-work rules.  As a result, many types of mandatory welfare-to-work programs were evaluated in the early 1990s. While reviews of such programs found that almost all programs led to significant increases in employment and reductions in welfare rolls, there was little evidence that income among former welfare recipients had increased. In 1992, as a presidential candidate, Bill Clinton pledged to “end welfare as we know it” by requiring families receiving welfare to work after two years After political wrangling with Congress. Provided federal dollars to states to operate the welfare and distribute to whom they saw fit as long as they met the requirements.