Existing comment:
Reforming Welfare:
When Ronald Reagan took office, California's welfare program was a huge burden on a financially strapped state. By 1971, the cost had reached $3 billion a year.
Governor Reagan undertook a sweeping welfare reform plan. It stiffened penalties for fraud, removed some employed recipients from welfare, and required adult children to help support their parents on welfare, among other changes. By 1974, welfare caseloads dropped 20 percents, benefits rose 43 percent for residents with no income, welfare fraud dropped, and California saved hundreds of millions of dollars.
"By tightening eligibility standards and eliminating loopholes, we turned a monthly increase in the welfare caseload of 40,000 into a monthly decrease of 8,000. No longer was California the welfare capital of the world."
-- Ronald Reagan |