Welfare and Welfare Spending

Latest Research on Obama’s Gutting of Welfare Reform

The Obama administration issued a new policy asserting that it would issue waivers to exempt states from the work requirements established in the 1996 welfare-reform law. Read More.

Overview: Obama Guts Welfare Reform

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) granted itself authority to “waive compliance” with all of the work provisions in the TANF program. Read More.

Gutting Welfare Reform: Undoing Workfare

The Administration is turning welfare reform on its head by jettisoning the legislative goal of reducing welfare caseloads. Read More.

Examining the Means-tested Welfare State

The means-tested welfare system consists of 79 federal programs providing cash, food, housing, medical care, social services, training, and targeted education aid to poor and low-income Americans. Read More.

Marriage: America’s Greatest Weapon Against Child Poverty

Child poverty is an ongoing national concern, but few are aware that its principal cause is the absence of married fathers in the home. Read More.

Despite spending more than enough to pull everyone out of poverty, the War on Poverty has failed to reduce the causes of poverty and has hurt many of the people it intended to help. The welfare reform of 1996 successfully transformed one welfare program. But today that reform is in jeopardy and some 70 other federal means-tested programs are in need of similar reform.

Introduction to the Research

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Experts on Welfare and Welfare Spending

Katherine Bradley
Research Fellow
Christine Kim
Policy Analyst
Jennifer A. Marshall
Director, Domestic Policy Studies
Robert Rector
Senior Research Fellow
Rachel Sheffield
Policy Analyst

Our Work

Backgrounder posted June 14, 2013 by Ariel Cohen, Ph.D. Russia’s Eurasian Union Could Endanger the Neighborhood and U.S. Interests
Backgrounder posted March 15, 2005 by Daniel J. Mitchell, Ph.D. The Impact of Government Spending on Economic Growth
Backgrounder posted June 12, 2013 by Nicolas Loris The Ethanol Mandate: Don’t Mend It, End It
Backgrounder posted April 25, 2012 by James Jay Carafano, Ph.D., Steven P. Bucci, Ph.D., Jessica Zuckerman Fifty Terror Plots Foiled Since 9/11: The Homegrown Threat and the Long War on Terrorism
Backgrounder posted January 25, 1996 by Patrick F. Fagan, Ph.D. Why Religion Matters: The Impact of Religious Practice on Social Stability
Backgrounder posted May 21, 2009 by James Sherk What Unions Do: How Labor Unions Affect Jobs and the Economy
Special Report posted August 28, 2007 by James Sherk Use and Abuse of the Family and Medical Leave Act: What Workers and Employers Say
Issue Brief posted June 13, 2013 by Paul Rosenzweig, David Inserra Government Cyber Failures Reveal Weaknesses of Regulatory Approach to Cybersecurity
Backgrounder posted March 1, 2006 by Tim Kane, Ph.D., Kirk A. Johnson, Ph.D. The Real Problem with Immigration... and the Real Solution
Backgrounder posted February 12, 2013 by Romina Boccia How the United States’ High Debt Will Weaken the Economy and Hurt Americans

Blog Post on Tuesday, June 18, 2013 Syria and the G8: Only a Dinner Party Discussion
Blog Post on Tuesday, June 18, 2013 Kansas Teachers Vote to Decertify Their Union
Blog Post on Tuesday, June 18, 2013 Will the Currency Zombie Eat the Trans-Pacific Partnership?
Blog Post on Tuesday, June 18, 2013 Pathway to Citizenship Is Amnesty (VIDEO)
Issue Brief posted June 18, 2013 by Alison Acosta Fraser, J.D. Foster, Ph.D. Soaring National Debt Remains a Grave Threat
Blog Post on Tuesday, June 18, 2013 G8 Summit: Fight Global Hunger with Economic Freedom
Blog Post on Tuesday, June 18, 2013 A Constitution for the 21st Century
Blog Post on Tuesday, June 18, 2013 Q: Will Obamacare Encourage Fraud? A: “I’ll Have to Think About That…”
Blog Post on Tuesday, June 18, 2013 Morning Bell: 3 Things You Should Know About the Supreme Court and Voter ID
Infographic on Tuesday, June 18, 2013 Debt Borrowed in Credit Markets Is at 50 Year High

Jun 19

Event on Wednesday, June 19, 2013 Scoring the Immigration Reform Bill: An Analysis of the CBO’s Numbers
On June 18, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) plans to release its score of S. 744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act. — Read more

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Jun 20

Event on Thursday, June 20, 2013 America’s Way Back: Reclaiming Freedom, Tradition and Constitution
A book eventHow can America recover from economic stagnation, moral exhaustion, and looming bankruptcy? In America’s Way Back, American Conservative Union Vice Chairman Donald — Read more

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Jun 21

Event on Friday, June 21, 2013 Lincoln Unbound: How an Ambitious Young Railsplitter Saved the American Dream – and How We Can Do It Again
In a mix of history and politics, author Rich Lowry traces Abraham Lincoln's ambitious climb from provincial upstart to political powerhouse and calls for a — Read more

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Jun 25

Event on Tuesday, June 25, 2013 Central Europe – The Indispensable Region
Co-hosted byFor Central Europe, the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 marked the beginning of an ongoing journey to full-fledged Euro-Atlantic integration. Although — Read more

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Jun 26

Event on Wednesday, June 26, 2013 The Project for the Common Defense: Keeping America Strong for the Next Generation
Co-hosted by the American Enterprise Institute's Marilyn Ware Center for Security StudiesWhile tactical questions relating to the use of military force often divide Americans, a — Read more

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Jun 26

Event on Wednesday, June 26, 2013 Taiwan, Trade and Trans-Pacific Partnership
Taiwan is a member of APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation). Its economy would make it among the more developed in the now 12 country Trans-Pacific — Read more

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Jun 27

Event on Thursday, June 27, 2013 The New Russian Sphere of Influence: Does Russia’s Eurasian Union Threaten U.S. Interests?
In 2011, the Presidents of Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan signed an agreement to create a Eurasian Union and have it fully functioning by 2015. — Read more

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Jul 08

Event on Monday, July 08, 2013 Sagebrush Rebel: Reagan’s Battle with Environmental Extremists and Why It Matters Today
Ronald Reagan, with his unbridled faith in American ingenuity, creativity, and know-how and his confidence in the free-enterprise system, believed the United States would “transcend” — Read more

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Blog Post on 6/18/2013 5:14:02 PM Syria and the G8: Only a Dinner Party Discussion
Blog Post on 6/18/2013 4:00:57 PM Kansas Teachers Vote to Decertify Their Union
Blog Post on 6/18/2013 3:00:36 PM Will the Currency Zombie Eat the Trans-Pacific Partnership?
Blog Post on 6/18/2013 2:00:11 PM Pathway to Citizenship Is Amnesty (VIDEO)
Blog Post on 6/18/2013 11:00:22 AM G8 Summit: Fight Global Hunger with Economic Freedom
Blog Post on 6/18/2013 10:00:42 AM A Constitution for the 21st Century
Blog Post on 6/18/2013 9:00:22 AM Q: Will Obamacare Encourage Fraud? A: “I’ll Have to Think About That…”
Blog Post on 6/18/2013 7:12:26 AM Morning Bell: 3 Things You Should Know About the Supreme Court and Voter ID
Blog Post on 6/17/2013 10:38:34 PM Should Food Stamps Be in Farm Bill? Congressman Seeks to Split Legislation
Blog Post on 6/17/2013 6:00:04 PM Natural Gas Exports: Remove Government Barriers

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