A welfare reform bill proposed by President Bush, which was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate Finance Committee, is a positive step in the fight against poverty. In the past couple of years, welfare reform has resurfaced after a former law passed in 1996 expired in October of 2001. (Cooper)
President Bush proposed a bill last year in hopes of creating a stable welfare system to replace the expired law. On Feb. 13, 2003 the U.S. House passed the bill that placed stricter work regulations on welfare recipients. The changes would require poor parents to work forty hours a week; which was increased from thirty. Also the percentage of welfare recipients who must hold jobs would be raised from fifty percent to seventy percent by 2008. (Peterson) When the bill arrived in the Senate, it was sent to the Senate Finance Committee for deliberation. On June 26, 2003 the committee passed the "Work, Opportunity, and Responsibility for Kids" {WORK} act of 2002.
English: Seal of the United States Senate. Esperan...
English: Treasury Secretary designee Tim Geithner ...
http://lincoln.senate.gov/photo_gallery.htmThe bill passed by the Senate committee differs slightly than the house-passed legislation because the poor parents will only have to work thirty hours a week instead of the original idea of forty. (Senate)
The WORK act is a good way to encourage unemployed citizens on Federal Assistance to venture out into the workforce of America. However, it does have a money problem. The U.S. government is dispersing over one billion between states who need help funding the new change in welfare requirements. Each individual state may have to spend from eight to eleven billion dollars to implement the new system. (Peterson) Even though the new welfare system costs a lot of money the WORK act should help many people in the long run.
Overall, the WORK act of 2002 should have a...