Welfare Reform Issues - Essay Example

The government formed a welfare scheme to assist the residents of the US. Then for almost the next six decades, the Federal government took this scheme into its hand until 1990. Criticisms increased as the intellectuals found that many American was taking advantage of this program in many ways, such as they would not like to apply for jobs, engaged to have more children to get more benefit, and would not like to get married for getting more aid, etc. It was in 1996 when finally President Clinton signed the law passed by the Republican-majority Congress that ultimately gave the key to controlling the welfare system back to the states (Zuckerman, 2004; Rector, 1995).

In this new system all the necessary information regarding the income level (gross and net), size of the family, homelessness, unemployment, etc., are collected to determine the type and amount of benefits that the applicant is eligible to get (US welfare system – “Help for US citizens”’, 2010).

For applying for a welfare program a person must contact the local Human Service Department for getting an appointment with a case worker who is responsible to give a list of desired documents such as income proof, ID, utility bills, other residency proof, etc. After reviewing all these details the caseworker determines the eligibility of an applicant (‘US welfare system – “Help for US citizens”’, 2010).

Welfare-to-Work initiative program, unfortunately, stopped in 2004 and provided financial assistance in exchange for work. The TANF program has been reapproved in 2005. Common welfare services, such as Supplemental Security Income, and Medicaid are still there in the system. Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC) have also been proposed to offer to less-income families for financial stability (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2005).

Kay Hagan is the democratic senator of North Carolina while Richard Burr is the republican senator of the district (Issues 2000, 2010). Virginia Foxx is the representative of North Carolina (Contacting the Congress, 2010).

Kay Hagan has addressed the crucial component of welfare reforms, that is, “making healthcare affordable and accessible to everyone” (Senator Kay R. Hagan, 2008). He ensured that children received coverage for healthcare with the help of state funds. Virginia Foxx, however, opposes this kind of health care reform and says that Americans usually have healthcare. She has also been criticized for introducing race as a propagated concept (Benen, 2009).

The welfare system run by the Fed was not efficiently executed because many people who did not require any financial support from the state took advantage of the flaw of the system. For that many people who required support from the welfare system did not get the benefit. However, abolishing the welfare system is not a pragmatic sign and it may hurt societal thoughts.

However, one thing is important here. To promote the welfare system, a proper taxation system is necessary. So it should always keep in mind that to promote the present welfare government should not allow putting the future generation under the burden of taxation so that the future has to pay the ultimate opportunity cost of the present welfare system.