The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act was passed in 1996. What changes in which programs occurred as a result of this legislation?

What will be an ideal response?


The 1996 law, grandly titled the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, transformed AFDC and cut back food stamp benefits. Both were means-tested entitlements backed by open-ended funding that guaranteed assistance to anyone who qualified. Spending on these programs had automatically swelled with increasing need in economic bad times--giving the economy a useful boost--and shrank during boom periods. AFDC, the basic public assistance program for needy families with children, was a joint federal-state program, with benefits varying from state to state. Food stamps provided the broadest safety net protection, assisting almost anyone whose income did not ensure adequate nutrition, including the working poor. Under the 1996 law, the food stamp program remained an entitlement. Cuts to the program were subsequently reversed and access to benefits was liberalized. But AFDC lost its entitlement status and became the stricter TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families).

Sociology

You might also like to view...

Positions of charismatic authority are always filled by people of good character

Indicate whether the statement is true or false

Sociology

Manliness is associated with violence

Indicate whether the statement is true or false

Sociology

Which of the following is NOT a reason why women tend to live longer than men?

a. men are more likely to die by suicide b. men are more likely to die in motor vehicle crashes c. men are more likely to work in dangerous occupations d.men have more chronic diseases, such as asthma and cancer e. men are more likely to drink, smoke, and abuse drugs

Sociology

An interest in protecting the fragile ecosystems is reflective of Americans’ cornucopia view of nature

Indicate whether the statement is true or false.

Sociology