The United States Federal Government under the leadership of President Obama has spent five times more on welfare than it has on transportation, education and NASA combined.
This seemingly impossible statistic was unearthed by Sen. Jeff Sessions’, R-Mobile, Senate Budget Committee staff.
“We have just concluded the 5th fiscal year since President Obama took office. During those five years, the federal government has spent a total $3.7 trillion on approximately 80 different means-tested poverty and welfare programs,” Sessions’ staff concluded. “…in contrast to programs like Social Security or Medicare, they are a free benefit and not paid into by the recipient.”
On top of the federal spending, “states contribute more than $200 billion each year to this federal nexus — primarily in the form of free low-income health care,” according to Sessions’ staff.
Effective oversight is nearly impossible because of the fragmented nature of the welfare budget. Food stamps are only one of 15 federal programs providing food assistance. This structure disguises the scope of welfare spending by breaking it up into smaller chunks that have an easier time flying below the radar.
For example, “it is easier for anti-reform lawmakers to oppose food stamp savings by obscuring the fact that a household receiving food stamps is often simultaneously eligible for a myriad of federal aid programs including free cash assistance, subsidized housing, free medical care, free child care, and home energy assistance,” Sessions staff concluded.
Surprisingly, the UK is ahead of the United States in solving this particular entitlement state issue. The Senate budget staff explains:
In the UK, six of the nation’s welfare programs have been consolidated into a single credit and total benefits have been capped at £26,000 (about $42,100 per family) in an effort to both improve standards and decrease net expenditures. A similar reform concept in the United States — combining welfare spending into a single credit—would still result in a surprisingly large welfare benefit while reducing expenditures and allowing for reforms that encourage self-sufficiency. For instance, a CATO study found that an average household in the District of Columbia currently receiving the six largest federal welfare benefits (Medicaid, TANF, SNAP, etc.) receives assistance with a converted cash value of $43,000. In Hawaii, it’s $49,000. Hypothetically, if net benefits from these myriad federal programs were combined into a single credit and capped at even 95 percent of that very large amount, it would save taxpayers billions while enabling reforms to promote self-sufficiency, reduce the penalty for working, and make the system fairer for taxpayers.
Sen. Sessions is the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee. He and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan will be playing key rolls in the coming weeks on the conference committee tasked with crafting a federal budget that can pass both the House and Senate.
Welfare reforms will no doubt be on the agenda.
Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims
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