John Kerry's stance on Welfare
Welfare: In 1996, Congress passed and President Clinton signed the Welfare Reform Act, which focused on bringing citizens on welfare back into the workforce. This act provided Federal money to each state in the form of a block grant, thus allowing each state to choose exactly how they wanted to manage the welfare system. While many believe that this act is creating a new era of responsibility, others fear that families and especially children will suffer when their welfare funding is cut.
John Kerry:
Description of Candidate's Position: John Kerry voted for the Welfare Reform Act in 1996. However, John Kerry has consistently opposed cutting funding for welfare. Additionally, Kerry supported increasing funding to provide child care for the welfare recipients who reentered the workforce and allowing state welfare money to be used for housing assistance. Importantly, Kerry attempted to create a system of accountability for states, forcing them to make "Corrective Action Plans" if child poverty increases. Today supports restoring benefits for "essential" programs for legal immigrants that were lost in 1996's Welfare Reform Act. Furthermore, Kerry has proposed increasing the minimum wage to 7 dollars an hour, strengthen the Earned Income Tax Credit, and provide federally funded access to job training and education to maintain the success of welfare reform.
Quotation from the Candidate: "We will raise the minimum wage to $7.00 an hour by 2007. At this minimum wage a family of four with a full-time worker would no longer be forced to raise their children in poverty, increase tax credits for child care, an essential ingredient in ensuring the continued success of work-based welfare reform; defend and strengthen the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), increasing the reward to work for the most hard-pressed families and lifting millions out of poverty; invest in programs like Youthbuild that educate and prepare disadvantaged young people for jobs… invest in lifelong learning so that workers of all skill levels can access education and training to move up to better, higher paying jobs." Kerry Book Link:
Assessment of the Proposal:
Positive: The Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, supports John Kerry's belief that welfare has experienced some success by "playing an important role" in decreasing the number of people on welfare.
Negative: The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, has claimed that Kerry's plan to increase the minimum wage would not aid in welfare reform. In fact, they point out that an increase in the minimum wage has been linked to increases in welfare caseloads.
Comparison: Both George Bush and John Kerry continue to support the Welfare Reform Act. However, Bush believes that the best way to maintain its success is to have the government place emphasis on the importance of marriage and fatherhood to maintaining financial stability. Furthermore, Bush will support an ownership culture, helping lower income families own their own homes.
Link to Bush Issue Brief.