Safwan Siddiqi Mr. Williams AP Government and Politics, Period 2 March 28, 2015 Should Cash Assistance Welfare Subsidies be limited to only the Social Security System? 35% of Americans are benefiting from some type of welfare subsidy. Welfare subsidies are social programs for aiding the needs of the U.S. population. Federal welfare subsidies were first proposed with the Theodore Roosevelt Administration, and expanded during the Wilson, FDR, and Johnson Administrations. There are eighty-three social programs funded by the federal government. The purpose of these programs is to help provide food, shelter, healthcare, education and money to needy American citizens. The subsidies can be divided into two categories: cash assistance programs …show more content…
However, an individual making this argument would fail to concede the fact that the same low-income families benefiting from government-funded cash assistance programs can be served through private welfare. Private welfare is the term used to describe welfare that is not from the public sector, but rather the private sector, including both profit and non-profit organizations. Through private welfare, all the money allocated to aiding low-income Americans is given to recipients through voluntary donations. If cash assistance subsidies were limited to the ones in private welfare, no American taxpayer would deal with the issue of having to forcibly pay their hard-earned money to funds that will give cash benefits to recipients who can spend the money however the wish, and at the same time, taxpayers who are willing to pay money to cash assistance funds would still be able to donate to the private welfare …show more content…
The exception to programs that should be removed is Social Security, since every individual who works and pays into the system can eventually become a recipient. Too much taxpayer money is spent on welfare programs that are inefficient, such as General Assistance and Adoption Assistance. This money could be better utilized if spent reducing the national debt, funding non-cash assistance welfare programs, or not being taxed. Moreover, there is a significant amount of fraud amongst welfare-recipients. There are also private welfare funds, providing the same benefits as welfare programs, that are not funded by taxpayer money but rather by voluntary donators. The financially responsible decision for the federal government to make is to eliminate all cash assistance welfare