Prometheus 6   

Well, if they would just die, that would solve everything

Are Those Leaving Welfare Better Off Now? Yes and No
By LESLIE KAUFMAN

…Wade F. Horn, assistant secretary for families and children in the federal Department of Health and Human Services, said he agreed with numerous estimates that 10 percent to 15 percent of all those who have left welfare since the overhaul legislation passed in 1996 had become significantly worse off financially. There are 2.4 million fewer American families on the federal welfare rolls than in 1996, when there were 4.4 million.

More than half have left welfare for work, although many who left for jobs did not keep them. Others have gone off welfare voluntarily, possibly because they chafed under the new rules or turned to other sources of support. And roughly a third have been forced out because they failed to comply with stricter state requirements or reached the five-year lifetime limit on federal benefits, although some of these become employed eventually.

While there is broad agreement that some families are worse off as a result, there is extensive debate over exactly why, and what should be done about it. "We are concerned about these families," said Dr. Horn, who is spearheading the Bush administration's current effort to amend the 1996 welfare law in order to stiffen work requirements and encourage marriage.

But, he added, not enough is known about the families. "There is no hard evidence that I know of that such families are less able to work, and we know a small percentage simply choose not to engage in welfare-to-work," he said.

…Dr. Horn said the evidence of poorer families was no reason to soften the federal rules, like the 60-month limit on aid, or penalties for those who do not comply with increased obligations to seek work or receive training. "I am firmly against wholesale loosening of requirements and moving us toward the old program," he said.

But many urban-policy researchers and advocates for the poor -- most of whom opposed the 1996 overhaul -- argue that the deepening poverty among former welfare recipients reflects flaws in the legislation that were entirely predictable and need to be corrected.