ipl-logo

Government Welfare Programs Pros And Cons

1707 Words7 Pages

Government welfare programs have been around for over 80 years. Thousands of impoverished Americans have relied on various types of aid when they were most in need over the years. However, some Americans began to feel as though the system was being taken advantage of by a number of welfare recipients who suffered from issues with substance abuse, and were using the government aid to fund their habits. Because of this belief, several states have developed programs to drug test recipients believing that the cost of the tests would be less than the money saved from weeding out the drug abusers. When the results did not support this belief states began looking into alternatives such as hiring more better trained welfare case workers and increasing …show more content…

When the United States of America was just a few disjointed colonies, aid was given to those who were unable to work and those who simply could not find work. It was not until the Great Depression during the 1930s, when millions of Americans were without work and were in need of aid, that the government established the first official welfare programs. The first programs included social security pay outs for the older generation, unemployment, compensation, and aid to families with dependent children (Welfare Info, 2017). Since Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidency, the different welfare programs have grown and changed, developing over the years to become what the nation needed at that time. Welfare programs are run on a state by state basis, therefore the type and amount of aid varies across the United States. According to Welfare Info (2017), most states offer basic aid: healthcare, food stamps, child care assistance, unemployment, cash aid, and housing assistance. The requirements for each different type of aid varies …show more content…

Those two programs are the only two welfare programs that the state of Idaho is legally allowed to drug test. In March of 2010, Republican lawmakers called for a study over what the legality and possible outcomes of drug testing those 10,500 people would be. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare found that the costs of potential litigation, on top of the cost of the tests, would be greater than the savings of eliminating drug users from government programs (Russel, 2011). Seven states already have drug testing programs in place: Arizona, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Utah (Covert, 2015). As a country, the United States has a national drug use rate of 9.4 percent. According to Covert (2015), .002 to 8.3 percent of welfare applicants tested positive for drugs in the seven states. The range of results is below the national percentage, and the states have collectively spent almost $1 million to discover this (Covert, 2015). For the seven states, drug testing did not turn out to be the money saver many thought it would

Show More
Related
1871 Words | 8 Pages

1. The Grapes of Wrath was written by John Steinbeck and is historical fiction. 2. Tom Joad who has recently been released from prison for manslaughter goes back to his family farm in Oklahoma. He becomes acquainted with a preacher named Jim Casey.

Read More
904 Words | 4 Pages

In Why Drug testing Welfare Recipients Is a Waste of Taxpayer Money, Darlena Cunha works to persuade that drug testing welfare recipients feeds the stereotype stigma towards those asking for the extra assistance and is actually wasting the taxpayer’s money. As soon as the page opens, there is a large image of two gloved hands holding a drug test. The picture is dark and the light is focused on a blue urine test for Cannabis and an Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC). As a result, the image automatically gives the reader a serious and eery tone.

Read More
1102 Words | 5 Pages

That is not what welfare should be used for though, it should be used as an extra last resort support system for an individual until they can get back on their feet. This is why there are so many people on the street and in homeless shelters, because the government is giving them free money. This is why it should in the end be up to private organizations and charity. This is because if it is a small group of people working with the less fortunate they can get to know them individually and try to help them off of welfare or the support that they are getting. Granted there are some things that the less fortunate should have the opportunity to have and that is health care.

Read More
1041 Words | 5 Pages

The Welfare Reform is a program that was set up to aid and provide public assistance (Opposing Viewpoints). This type of assistance aids families who are in need of funds due to no income or very little income. Over the next years, the Welfare Reform Act has been slightly changed. Some changes have been an improvement to the program, while other changes did not make an impact on the individuals who receive this form of assistance. Critics of the welfare program have insisted the programs hinders people who receive this form of support.

Read More
1325 Words | 6 Pages

He claims the testing will be used to better prepare individuals for the workplace and rehabilitate those, testing positive for drugs, with state funded treatment plans (Scott Walkers Light …).

Read More
1558 Words | 7 Pages

The state has also cut plans for drug treatment.”. This is corroborated on a federal level by the percentage of federal anti-drug budget for prevention and treatment from 1970 to 2000. This data shows that when Reagan took office in 1981, funding for drug-use prevention and treatment plummeted from 57% to 28%, and stayed there until 1990, where it increased slightly to 32%. This data was initially published by the National Drug Control Strategy, a bipartisan government organization that's purpose is to outline the country’s efforts to reduce illicit drug use and its consequences in the United

Read More
766 Words | 4 Pages

Therefore, there are 37 states that allow people to receive state assistance. This means there are thousands of people who are abusing the system by being irresponsible through the use of abusing drugs. American citizens who qualify for state assistance should

Read More
1104 Words | 5 Pages

Welfare recipients should not be required to complete a drug test if other people receiving government

Read More
1128 Words | 5 Pages

States have proposed drug testing of applicants and recipients of public welfare benefits since federal welfare reform in 1996. The federal rules permit drug testing as part of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant. In recent years, nearly all states have proposed some form of drug testing or screening for applicants. In 2009, over 20 states proposed legislation that would require drug testing as a condition of eligibility for public assistance programs. In 2010 at least 12 states had similar proposals.

Read More
1502 Words | 7 Pages

Money is also added for states to hire people to administer the tests (Health and Human Services 7). So that means states already have to pay for the tests themselves and then add more taxpayer money on top of that to hire people to give the tests. Florida and Alabama have proposed that the recipient should have to pay for the test instead (US Health and Human Services). But how is it fair that they should have to pay for the test if there is no reason for them to be tested. In the end the cost of drug testing and testing all approved applicants was between 1.2 and 1.3 million dollars (US Health and Human Services).

Read More
460 Words | 2 Pages

In 2000, a judge from Michigan ruled that drug testing welfare recipients had violated the recipients privacy rights (“Federal Appeals Court Upholds Ban on Testing Welfare Recipients for Drugs,” p. 1). The drug testing method also goes against the Fourth Amendment right to be free of search and seizures by the government without probable cause. People feel that the poor should not have to choose between providing for their family and give up their rights (“Federal Appeals Court Upholds Ban on Testing Welfare Recipients for Drugs,” p. 4). As a result, some states choose not to require drug test, because they feel it is

Read More
579 Words | 3 Pages

According to Time.com during the four months, Florida drug tested welfare recipients only 2.6% of applicants tested positive. Drug testing results do not justify the cost of the test and is using money that could be used for something much more important. States are having to pay for an expensive drug test while getting less positive tests and more negative tests. The states that are

Read More
1053 Words | 5 Pages

There are many factual reasons on why people agree that drug testing welfare people is wrong. “Some who would have to undergo the drug testing are offended by the implication that simply because you are having financial problems

Read More
1037 Words | 5 Pages

Welfare It is very controversial topic when drug testing is discussed. In fact, it becomes controversial when it is said that it should be a requirement to have applicants be drug tested to receive welfare benefits. A national welfare system was born in America in 1935. Public welfare was developed to help needy families with programs that provide cash assistance or services to individuals and families who are eligible basis of their income and assets. Also, known as food stamps, TANF and Section 8.

Read More
557 Words | 3 Pages

“We are the reckless, we are the wild.” The artist of these lyrics, Elena Tonra, expresses the naivety and recklessness of youth, in her song titled “Youth.” During the duration of the song, she sings about growing up and the pain this brings along. Her song is a scream of pain directed to all the adults who think that young people have nothing to worry about and they do not take the youth seriously. She opposes strongly this general illusion of a carefree youth.

Read More

More about Government Welfare Programs Pros And Cons

Related Topics

Open Document