Tipster Topic Description
Number: 103
Domain: Law and Government
Topic: Welfare Reform
<desc> Description:
Document will report those proposed or enacted changes to U.S. federal,
state, or local welfare laws and regulations which are propounded as reforms.
<smry> Summary:
Document will report those proposed or enacted changes to U.S. federal,
state, or local welfare laws and regulations which are propounded as reforms.
<narr> Narrative:
A relevant document will reveal attempts by any U.S. jurisdiction to change
the legal or regulatory context of existing welfare programs, or to add new
programs, which are described or labeled as a reform. For the purposes of
this topic, a welfare program must revolve around a transfer payment for
which the recipient had not previously made contributions, other than
through general tax payments. Examples include General Assistance, Aid for
Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), public housing, Medicaid, income
subsidies (rent and fuel subsidies, earned income tax credit, food stamps,
etc.), child care programs (day care subsidies, nutrition programs, Head
Start, etc.), and vocational training programs. NOT relevant are those
programs which could be viewed as the payment of insurance benefits to those
who had previously made contributions (either directly or indirectly through
a family member or employer), such as Medicare, Social Security survivor's
benefits, and unemployment insurance. Also NOT relevant are those documents
which deal solely with the financing or administration of existing programs.
<con> Concept(s):
1. welfare recipient, public assistance, family assistance, welfare benefit,
relief
2. welfare reform, welfare dependency, reform movement, workfare, homeless,
welfare culture
3. General Assistance, Aid for Families with Dependent Children, AFDC,
Medicaid, earned income tax credit, food stamps, Head Start, job training,
public housing
<fac> Factor(s):
<nat> Nationality: U.S.
</fac>
<def> Definition(s):
Welfare program: although the above distinction between a "pure" transfer
payment program and a putative insurance program is debatable, the
distinction is made to focus the data search on those programs which are
clearly in the welfare category, as opposed to the wide variety of social
programs supported by U.S. government entities.