Trump's Executive Order On Welfare: ‘Work Is The Solution’

Eric Scheiner | April 11, 2018
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President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Tuesday making steps to reform welfare in America, adding or enforcing work requirements on “able-bodied adults” is central to the plan.

According to the White House fact sheet:

 

Today, there are a record 28 million able-bodied adults on Medicaid.  In fact, since 2000, the number of able-bodied adults on Medicaid has quadrupled.

WORK IS THE SOLUTION: Adding or enforcing work requirements for able-bodied adults on welfare is an effective solution to help millions of Americans regain their independence.

 

The White House says, despite labor market shortages, welfare enrollment has remained at or near-historic highs.

The order itself directs administration officials to enforce work requirements that are required by law, review federally funded workforce development programs, and empower state, local and private sector entities “to effectively administer and manage public assistance programs.”

According to the order, its purpose is to increase self-sufficiency and well-being:

The United States and its Constitution were founded on the principles of freedom and equal opportunity for all.  To ensure that all Americans would be able to realize the benefits of those principles, especially during hard times, the Government established programs to help families with basic unmet needs.  Unfortunately, many of the programs designed to help families have instead delayed economic independence, perpetuated poverty, and weakened family bonds. While bipartisan welfare reform enacted in 1996 was a step toward eliminating the economic stagnation and social harm that can result from long-term Government dependence, the welfare system still traps many recipients, especially children, in poverty and is in need of further reform and modernization in order to increase self-sufficiency, well-being, and economic mobility.

 

You can read the complete executive order here.

The White House fact sheet is available here.

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