The New World of Welfare

Rebecca M. Blank, Ron Haskins, Rebecca M. Blank, Ron Haskins

• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
• Year: 2004
• Print ISBN: 9780815710103
• eBook ISBN: 9780815798378
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Social Policy
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Congress must reauthorize the sweeping 1996 welfare reform legislation by October 1, 2002. A number of issues that were prominent in the 1995-96 battle over welfare reform are likely to resurface in the debate over reauthorization. Among those issues are the five-year time limit, provisions to reduce out-of-wedlock births, the adequacy of child care funding, problems with Medicaid and food stamp receipt by working families, and work requirements. Funding levels are also certain to be controversial. Fiscal conservatives will try to lower grant spending levels, while states will seek to maintain them and gain additional discretion in the use of funds. Finally, a movement to encourage states to promote marriage among low-income families is already taking shape.
The need for reauthorization presents an opportunity to assess what welfare reform has accomplished and what remains to be done. The New World of Welfare is an attempt to frame the policy debate for reauthorization, and to inform the policy discussion among the states and at the federal level, especially by drawing lessons from research on the effects of welfare reform. In the book, a diverse set of welfare experts—liberal and conservative, academic and nonacademic—engage in rigorous debate on topics ranging from work experience programs, to job availability, to child well-being, to family formation. In order to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of research on welfare reform, the contributors cover subjects including work and wages, effects of reform on family income and poverty, the politics of conservative welfare reform, sanctions and time limits, financial work incentives for low-wage earners, the use of medicaid and food stamps, welfare-to-work, child support, child care, and welfare reform and immigration.
Preparation of the volume was supported by funds from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Information
• Foreword
• Table of Contents
• Part I: Overview and Policy Recommendations
• Welfare Reform: An Agenda for Reauthorization
• Part II: The Biggest Issues
• Implementation of the Personal Responsibility Act of 1996
• Work, Wages, and Welfare
• Effects of Welfare Reform on Family Income and Poverty
• Family Formation
• The Politics of Welfare Reform
• The Politics of Conservative Welfare Reform
• Part III: Specific Issues and Policies
• Improving Employment Outcomes under TANF
• State Sanctions and Time Limits
• Financial Work Incentives for Low-Wage Workers
• Work Experience under Welfare Reform
• Will TANF Work for the Most Disadvantaged Families?
• Supporting Work through Medicaid and Food Stamps
• Welfare Reform and Immigration
• Welfare Reform and Children's Well-Being
• Part IV: Associated Program Reforms
• Fathers, Marriage, and Welfare Reform
• Child Support in the New World of Welfare
• Child Care after Welfare Reform
• Effects of the 1996 Welfare Reform Changes on the SSI Program
• Contributors
• Index
• Back Cover