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June 26, 1992
PRESIDENT BUSH ON WELFARE REFORM
"It's time to replace the assumptions of the welfare state and
help reform the welfare system. States throughout the country
are beginning to operate with new assumptions: that when
able-bodied people receive government assistance, they have
responsibilities to the taxpayer. A responsibility to seek
work, education or job training; a responsibility to get their
lives in order; a responsibility to hold their families
together and refrain from having children out of wedlock; and
a responsibility to obey the law."
-- President Bush
State of the Union Address
January 28, 1992
Summary: The President's Objectives for Welfare Reform
o The principles outlined by the President in his State of the
Union Address are essential to adding accountability to
welfare and reducing dependency. These reforms include:
-- Requirements that able-bodied welfare recipients enroll
in workfare or some form of job training in exchange for
receiving benefits;
-- Measuring the success of welfare programs by how many
people move from the welfare rolls onto the job rolls.
-- Adding incentives that encourage families to stay
together, and disincentives that discourage additional
out-of-wedlock births.
o To accelerate implementation of welfare reforms, President
Bush has made a commitment to speed up review of Federal
waivers for state reforms. The President and the Secretary of
Health and Human Services have already approved a waiver for
Wisconsin's Parental and Family Responsibility Initiative,
which provides new incentives for welfare recipients to work
and marry.
- MORE -
FACT SHEET: WELFARE REFORM Page 2
o Reducing dependency in welfare will save taxpayer dollars, but
more importantly, make able-bodied citizens productive again.
Getting people off welfare and into jobs helps former
recipients, their families, and society generally. In
addition, getting long-term dependents off welfare will free
up more dollars for programs that are supposed to help working
Americans and their families in times of economic strain,
instead of providing more government funds for already-
dependent welfare recipients.
The Need for Welfare Reform
o The 1988 Family Support Act represented a philosophical
turning point in the approach to welfare; it expanded
government efforts to train recipients and to collect child
support, but it also required recipients to accept new
responsibilities.
o Many reforms proposed since 1988 reflect the Family Security
Act's conceptual approach; however, there remains a growing
need to translate new thinking into lasting results.
Dependency remains a pervasive problem. Research has shown
that about two-thirds of the families on AFDC at any given
time will spend a total of eight or more years on the rolls.
o Addressing long-term dependency by increasing incentives for
those on welfare to work and behave responsibly will help
dependent recipients become productive again, and will prevent
the current generation of children from becoming the AFDC
parents of the next decade. New welfare reforms will meet
government's responsibility to become both more effective and
more compassionate.
Federal Approval of State Demonstration Programs
o On April 10th, President Bush announced approval of Federal
waivers for Wisconsin's Parental and Family Responsibility
Initiative which is designed to encourage teenage parent
welfare recipients to work and marry. The initiative will
strengthen families by encouraging poor couples to marry and
to be responsible about child-bearing. Also, recipients will
be required to participate in education and job placement
services. Unlike existing programs, Wisconsin's plan will
increase the reward for taking jobs by increasing the amount
of monthly earnings that can be received before AFDC payments
are reduced.
-MORE-
FACT SHEET: WELFARE REFORM Page 3
o The Bush Administration has approved several other welfare
reform demonstration projects, including:
-- Illinois' Chance for Self-Sufficiency program which is
helping families previously on welfare to stay off
welfare by providing state-sponsored and community based
post-welfare education and training services.
-- In Maryland, Montgomery County's Cash Incentives Payments
for Self-Sufficiency which increases the value of work by
providing incentive bonuses for completing job training
or getting a job.
-- Texas' Toward Independence Program which provided one-
year of Medicaid and child care benefits to ease the
transition from welfare to work.
o More than 20 States that begun to develop welfare reform
proposals. These proposals are receiving expedited review at
the Federal level.
Reforms by States
o Reforms that require responsibility, promote family values,
and reduce dependency, if adopted by a number of states, would
fundamentally improve welfare's operation. Meaningful welfare
reform as outlined and promoted by the President will mean
dependent recipients, to continue receiving benefits, would
have to assume a measure of personal responsibility and take
concrete steps to improve their lives.
o States such as New Jersey and California are taking steps to
approve reforms similar to the President's proposals. New
Jersey has passed a law this year that would instill
responsibility by requiring work for welfare (or enrollment in
job training), and by not increasing benefits to those who
have additional children while receiving welfare.
Putting the Private Sector to Work in Reducing Welfare Dependency
o The private sector can play an important role in getting
welfare recipients back to work. Some states have established
public-private networks which pay private firms for each
welfare recipient placed in a job. Results-oriented programs
like these put the power of the marketplace to work in ways
that benefit taxpayers, state and local governments, and
welfare recipients.
-MORE-
FACT SHEET: WELFARE REFORM Page 4
o By focusing on results, private firms are able to take direct
control over welfare cases, steering recipients into jobs
sooner than the state might have, and reducing costs to
taxpayers. States have strong incentives to turn to the
private sector, which can be held directly accountable for
success or failure.
o In partnership with state and local governments, private
sector initiatives under the Job Opportunities and Basic
Skills (JOBS) program remove barriers to employment with
placement services, sharpen workers' skills, and place welfare
recipients in paying jobs. Major "welfare-to-work" projects
with private sector involvement exist in Connecticut, New
York, Massachusetts, and Wyoming. One private firm manages
over 14,000 AFDC cases in Los Angeles County alone. Thousands
of Texas AFDC recipients benefit from a private firm's case
management project that provides focused training and
placement services.
Budgetary Commitments to Welfare Reform
o The President is making concrete his commitment to workfare
and welfare reform by:
-- Providing $1 billion in FY93 to finance the federal share
of the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills training
program (JOBS). JOBS helps eligible parents receiving
assistance under AFDC to obtain education, training, and
employment services, and thus to avoid welfare
dependency.
-- Proposing $250 million over five years for AFDC changes
to provide incentives for savings and promote self-
employment among welfare recipients.
o President Bush also wants to expand opportunities for private
sector involvement, and, in his Job Training 2000 initiative
has proposed several new welfare-to-work reform demonstrations
to fund public-private partnerships involving more than $20
million in welfare payments.
-MORE-
FACT SHEET: WELFARE REFORM Page 5
Creating Opportunities for Self-Improvement
o The President understands that instilling responsibility means
more than just providing opportunities for education and
training -- it means creating a network of opportunity for
self-improvement: the HOPE initiative in housing to encourage
home ownership, the AMERICA 2000 strategy to restore
accountability to education, and significant new funding for
child care programs to help the children of working parents
onto the path of opportunity and Job Training 2000 which would
establish "one-stop shopping" skill centers replacing the
existing job training maze to help the low-income
disadvantaged find jobs, and training more easily.
o If government is to encourage personal responsibility, the
design of current programs must be changed significantly to
expand job opportunities and promote self sufficiency. To
this end, the President's FY93 budget contains several
initiatives to help low-income families escape welfare
dependency:
-- The President has proposed to give states the option of
allowing families already on the welfare rolls to
accumulate savings. This will give AFDC families the
opportunity to save up to $10,000 to achieve independence
from welfare, educate their children, or start a
business.
-- The President has proposed to create a welfare
initiative, similar to an existing Social Security
initiative, the Plan for Achieving Self-Support (PASS).
This plan would let welfare families who agree to leave
welfare within a specified period to keep income which
normally would count against the family's welfare
benefits.
-- The President has proposed a demonstration program
allowing states to create escrow savings accounts for
long-term AFDC recipients trying to work their way off
welfare. Individuals could set aside an amount equal to
state's savings from not having to pay AFDC that would be
realized when the family head gets a job. These savings
would be paid back to the family in a lump sum once
family income exceeds the need for cash assistance.
-MORE-
FACT SHEET: WELFARE REFORM Page 6
o These legislative changes would assist states in designing
workfare plans that meet the President's reform objectives.
They would also allow welfare recipients to prepare better for
entry into the work force and help prevent their return to the
welfare rolls.
Enforcement of Child Support
o President Bush understands that welfare dependency often stems
from the failure of families to form or endure. Thus, the
President is working on a variety of fronts to strengthen
families and lower the costs of raising children.
o President Bush is committed to making sure that absent parents
meet their financial responsibilities, giving children at
least the financial support they need. In the first three
years of the Bush Administration, child support collections by
states rose 30 percent. In 1986, child support orders
recovered by the federal government totalled just $3.2
billion. Last year, recoveries had more than doubled to
almost $7 billion. About $2 billion of that amount was
collected on behalf of families receiving welfare.
o President bush has proposed legislative changes to extend
child support enforcement services to recipients of other
federally funded programs besides AFDC, and to increase health
insurance coverage of children by their non-custodial parents.
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