Welfare now 21% of Federal Budget

[Pythagorean]

Sounds like you guys are attacking each other.

Welcome to P&WA, hope you weren't expecting genuine discussion. Rule #1, for each fact there are two interpretations, but your interpretation is right and the other guy's is wrong. Since you can't prove interpretations, just use tautology and accuse the other guy of ignorance.

Hope that clears everything up. Good luck, here's your helmet.

 

[aquitaine]

Is that your one and only program that you think qualifies as welfare?

If it isn't, please whittle this list of 83 programs down to the ones that you would say do qualify as welfare.

1. Family Planning
2. Consolidated Health Centers
3. Transitional Cash and Medical Services for Refugees
4. State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
5. Voluntary Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit-Low-Income Subsidy
6. Medicaid
7. Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program
8. Breast/Cervical Cancer Early Detection
9. Maternal and Child Health Block Grant
10. Indian Health Service
11. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) (cash aid)
12. Supplemental Security Income
13. Additional Child Tax Credit
14. Earned Income Tax Credit (refundable component)
15. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
16. School Breakfast Program (free/reduced price components)
17. National School Lunch Program (free/reduced price components)
18. Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC)
19. Child and Adult Care Food Program (lower income components)
20. Summer Food Service Program
21. Commodity Supplemental
22. Food Program Nutrition Assistance for Puerto Rico
23. The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP)
24. Nutrition Program for the Elderly
25. Indian Education
26. Adult Basic Education Grants to States
27. Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant
28. Education for the Disadvantaged- Grants to Local Educational Agencies (Title I-A)
29. Title I Migrant Education Program
30. Higher Education-Institutional Aid and Developing Institutions
31. Federal Work-Study
32. Federal TRIO Programs
33. Federal Pell Grants
34. Education for Homeless Children and Youth
35. 21st Century Community Learning Centers
36. Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR- UP)
37. Reading First and Early Reading First
38. Rural Education Achievement Program
39. Mathematics and Science Partnerships
40. Improving Teacher Quality State Grants
41. Academic Competitiveness and Smart Grant Program
42. Single-Family Rural Housing Loans
43. Rural Rental Assistance Program
44. Water and Waste Disposal for Rural Communities
45. Public Works and Economic Development
46. Supportive Housing for the Elderly
47. Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities
48. Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance
49. Community Development Block Grants
50. Homeless Assistance Grants
51. Home Investment Partnerships Program (HOME)
52. Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA)
53. Public Housing
54. Indian Housing Block Grants
55. Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers
56. Neighborhood Stabilization Program-1
57. Grants to States for Low-Income Housing in Lieu of Low-Income Housing Credit Allocations
58. Tax Credit Assistance Program
59. Indian Human Services
60. Older Americans Act Grants for Supportive Services and Senior Centers
61. Older Americans Act Family Caregiver Program
62. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) (social services)
63. Child Support Enforcement
64. Community Services Block Grant
65. Child Care and Development Fund
66. Head Start HHS
67. Developmental Disabilities Support and Advocacy Grants
68. Foster Care
69. Adoption Assistance
70. Social Services Block Grant
71. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program
72. Emergency Food and Shelter Program
73. Legal Services Corporation
74. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (employment and training component)
75. Community Service Employment for Older Americans
76. Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Adult Activities
77. Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Youth Activities
78. Social Services and Targeted Assistance for Refugees
79. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) (employment and training)
80. Foster Grandparents
81. Job Corps
82. Weatherization Assistance Program
83. Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)

This is the list of programs that led to that 21% figure. Some are perhaps dubious as "welfare". So come up with your own list.

Please be reasonable. It had better not be TANF and TANF only. That's not a reasonable definition of "welfare".

Wow, that's quite a list. I'm seeing a lot of redundancies, so wouldn't it make sense to roll several related programs into one? Like for example free school lunches and food stamps? I would think such consolidations would reduce the bureaucracies, making more efficient use of tax money...

 

[SixNein]

Sounds like you guys are attacking each other.

I wouldn't call any of this an attack.

People who enjoy talking about politics do so because they like the process of argumentation. Arguments are an excellent way to test ideas and often things can be learned from them. Of course, there are many people who don't like their ideas being challenged, and they will take every argument as if it is a personal attack. But there isn't too much of that in this forum.

As a bystander, one should just judge this by the merits of the arguments being presented. It could be that you disagree with both arguments, and you should jump into test out your own ideas. Unless the argument is that rare thing that gets instant consensus, your idea will likely be challenged by someone, and you'll be able to learn the strengths and weaknesses of it. Just don't take it personal.