Welfare & Entitlements News

The Daily Signal covers welfare and entitlements with conservative reporting on SNAP and food stamp programs, Medicaid expansion, work requirement battles, poverty reduction strategies, fraud prevention, and the ongoing debate between compassionate reform and perpetual government dependency.
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  • opinion

    David McCullough’s ‘The Pioneers’ Is a Rebuke to Our Entitlement Mentality
    In a country preoccupied with presidential candidates preaching extreme liberalism and even unabashed socialism comes America’s greatest living historian, David McCullough, with a new and needed book. It’s called “The Pioneers,” and the subtitle is its theme: “The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West” (Simon & Schuster). Nowadays, while students…
    Cal Thomas
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  • opinion

    National School Lunch Program Has Morphed Into Massive, Wasteful Entitlement Program
    The National School Lunch Program has changed dramatically since it began in 1946. What started as a grant program to help poor students and those with special needs has morphed into a massive entitlement offering meals to 30 million students every year—equivalent to nearly 55% of all children enrolled in public and private schools. And…
    Jonathan Butcher | Vijay Menon
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  • news

    ‘Self-Sufficiency, Not a Sinkhole’: JOBS Act Updates Work Requirements for Welfare Recipients
    Republicans in the House and Senate are making another legislative push to enforce work requirements for able-bodied adults on welfare. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday announced the Jobs and Opportunity with Benefits and Services Act. The JOBS Act comes as the Trump administration makes a…
    Fred Lucas
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  • opinion

    What Liberals Forget: Before the Welfare State, Americans Took Care of Each Other
    Over the weekend, Democratic fresh face and socialist darling Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., spoke at the South by Southwest conference. While sitting amidst the enormous bounty provided by capitalism—top-notch electronic equipment, a massive crowd of paid ticket holders—AOC tore into capitalism. She called the system that has raised 80 percent of the globe from extreme…
    Ben Shapiro
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  • opinion

    Trump’s Budget Reaffirms Commitment to Work-Based Welfare Policy
    President Donald Trump issued an executive order last April that called for policy reforms to, among other things, “improve employment outcomes and economic independence.” Nearly one year later, the president’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2020 doubles down on this goal by renewing policies to promote work in means-tested welfare programs. Trump’s “Budget for a…
    Vijay Menon
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  • news

    Trump’s 2020 Budget Seeks More Border Wall Funding, Work Requirements for Welfare
    President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2020 budget proposal would eliminate the federal deficit in 15 years, add new work requirements for welfare recipients, and fund additional construction of a border wall. The reaction to the spending blueprint by Democrats was predictably negative. The $4.7 trillion proposal, which projects a $1.1 trillion deficit, also asks Congress to…
    Fred Lucas
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  • opinion

    How America’s Wealthy Often Become the Biggest Welfare Recipients
    When I hear “welfare payments,” I think “poor people.” But America’s biggest welfare recipients are often politically connected corporations—like America’s sugar producers. The industry gets billions of dollars in special deals while deceitfully running ads that say, “American farmers don’t get subsidy checks.” That ad confused me. If they “don’t get subsidy checks,” then what…
    John Stossel
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  • opinion

    The Problem Isn’t the Poor. It’s Young Men on Welfare Who Could Be Working.
    Left-wing media stalwarts such as Newsweek, Huffington Post, and Salon launched a barrage of fake news after I appeared on “Fox & Friends” recently to discuss new Agriculture Department rules tightening work requirement on food stamps. Unfortunately, the now all-too-common disinformation campaigns from the left, distorting or simply lying about what our president says or…
    Star Parker
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  • opinion

    Electric Vehicle Tax Credits Another Form of Corporate Welfare
    If America’s auto manufacturers wrote letters to Santa, it’s not hard to guess what would be high on their lists: retaining the federal tax credit for electric vehicles. For several years now, Uncle Sam (who often acts like Santa’s U.S.-based cousin) has tried to encourage the public to buy electric vehicles by offering those who…
    Ed Feulner
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  • opinion

    Senate Is Killing State Welfare Reform
    Few policy reforms have been as popular as welfare-to-work. Why, then, is the U.S. Senate trying to kill state efforts at encouraging able-bodied adults to get a job? Welfare-to-work was one of the signature policy wins of the 1990s, resulting in the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. The legislation was signed by…
    Jameson Taylor
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  • opinion

    Welfare With No End in Sight Is a Terrible Fate. Let’s Help Americans Avoid It.
    The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is high on the Republican list of programs targeted for reform—and justifiably so. The program has gone from 17 million enrollees in 2000 to about 43 million today, with outlays up from about $25 billion to more than $70 billion. The Trump administration’s budget submitted last February includes major reforms…
    Star Parker
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  • opinion

    The Unintended Consequences of the Welfare State on the Human Spirit
    Before the massive growth of our welfare state, private charity was the sole option for an individual or family facing insurmountable financial difficulties or other challenges. How do we know that? There is no history of Americans dying on the streets because they could not find food or basic medical assistance. Respecting the biblical commandment…
    Walter E. Williams
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  • opinion

    We Hear You: Going ‘Bold’ on Welfare Reform, Learning About Guns, and Other Good Ideas
    Editor's note: Time to catch up on some mail we've been meaning to publish for awhile. Enjoy the potpourri. And don't forget to write us at [email protected].—Ken McIntyre Dear Daily Signal: Bravo! The voice of sound reason in the midst of babble (“Why We Must Be Bold on Welfare Reform”). The wisdom of Heritage Foundation…
    Ken McIntyre
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  • opinion

    Wisconsin Forges Ahead on Welfare Reform
    Wisconsin is taking the lead on welfare reform. In February, the state Legislature passed nine bills, which Gov. Scott Walker is expected to sign. The state government is taking advantage of record-low unemployment and strong job creation numbers to help all of its able citizens enter the workforce. Among other measures, Wisconsin’s bold plan implements…
    Mimi Teixeira
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  • opinion

    Trump Issued a Call for Welfare Reform. Here Are 4 Actions Policymakers Can Take.
    President Donald Trump this week signed an executive order calling for reforms in the welfare system to promote work and strengthen marriage. The president is right to address this pressing issue. Welfare reform is needed. Today, the welfare system aggressively penalizes marriage among low-income parents and discourages work and self-support. We have spent $28 trillion…
    Mimi Teixeira | Robert Rector
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  • opinion

    Why We Must Be Bold on Welfare Reform
    Washington is in a unique position to solve America’s welfare crisis for a very simple reason: Washington created it. The policy and programs it established a half-century ago have depleted people, obstructed their purpose, and extinguished their extraordinary possibilities. The evidence of this failure is all around us. Being black and the daughter of a…
    Kay C. James
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  • opinion

    Work Requirements Have Revolutionized Welfare at the State Level. Now It’s Uncle Sam’s Turn.
    Policymakers are ready to get serious about work requirements for food stamps, with both Congress and the Trump administration working on ways to improve the program. A little over a week ago, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it is seeking comments on how best to reintroduce work requirements in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,…
    Mimi Teixeira
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  • news

    Rep. Jim Jordan Makes the Case for Welfare Reform
    Rep. Jim Jordan said he hopes Congress will reform welfare spending and believes people should have to work for their taxpayer subsidies. CNN’s “New Day” host Chris Cuomo challenged Jordan, R-Ohio, during a Wednesday interview, and said President Donald Trump wasn’t interested in tackling welfare reform. “We’ve talked to the president actually about welfare reform, and he…
    Nick Givas
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  • news

    What 3 House Republicans Hope to See in Welfare Reform
    Reform of welfare programs is needed to restore incentives for people to work and to learn new job skills, three Republican lawmakers say. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, began by asking members of a panel to remember the first job they ever had. “For me, it was bailing hay … and it was mowing country lawns….
    Ian Snively
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  • opinion

    Podcast: What Welfare Reforms Would Promote Happiness, Prosperity
    What kind of reforms would encourage work, marriage, and result in happier lives for some Americans? Heritage Foundation’s Marie Fishpaw joins us to explain that, and why the individual mandate isn’t working. Plus: why President Donald Trump is making the right call on elephant hunting.
    Katrina Trinko | Daniel Davis
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