Fasttrack to America's Past
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Page 234
 Page 234 - Charting Welfare Reform

Making the chart

   You will need a color pencil for the line graph on this page.  Red is a good choice.  You should study the table, then neatly place dots for the data and connect the dots with straight lines.

 What the chart shows

   The graph shows the rapid growth in the number of people receiving welfare in the 1960s and early 1970s.  It also shows the rapid drop in the figures as major reforms were made to the welfare system in the mid-1990s.
 
   During the 1960s, leaders including President Lyndon Johnson pushed for more government programs to help poor families improve their standard of living.  Welfare benefits were increased and made much easier to get.
 
   These changes certainly helped many people improve their lives.  But critics said the expanding welfare system was contributing to other social problems, such as a rise in out-of-wedlock births, and encouraging a culture of dependence on government handouts.
 
   Republicans began pushing for changes to the welfare laws during the Reagan administration.  But it was not until 1996 that Congress passed a strong new law making time limits and work requirements part of the welfare system.  The graph shows the result, a sharp reduction in the number of people on the welfare rolls.
Background for the chart question

   The graph shows that the welfare reform law of 1996 was very effective in reducing the number of people dependent on the nation's major welfare program.  The number of welfare recipients was cut in half by the year 2000.

   The data is for AFDC, Aid for Families with Dependent Children, up to 1995.  The 2000 data is for TANF, Temporary Aid for Needy Families.  TANF replaced AFDC as a result of the 1996 law.  Both are federal programs, but they are administered through the states, which have some flexibility in applying the time limits and work requirements.

   The graph does not show, of course, the impact of the changes on individual lives.  The new law allowed a transition period for recipients to find work or get training and education for a new job.  While there were some instances of hardship created by the changes, the overall pattern was a remarkable success story.  
   Many welfare recipients' stories appeared in news accounts of the period.  Often they told of their initial resentment at the changes, but spoke of their pride at finally being able to stand on their own feet.  Many businesses contributed to the success of these efforts by working with state and local welfare agencies to recruit and train welfare recipients for jobs.






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   Copyright 2018 by David Burns.  All rights reserved.  Illustrations and reading selections appearing in this work are taken from sources in the public domain and from private collections used by permission.  Sources include: the Dover Pictorial Archive, the Library of Congress, The National Archives, The Hart Publishing Co., Corel Corporation and its licensors, Nova Development Corporation and its licensors, and others.  Maps were created or adapted by the author using reference maps from the United States Geological Survey and Cartesia Software.  Please see the home page for this title for more information.