Describe the ways in which social welfare responsibilities shifted from the federal government to the states during the Reagan and Bush (Essay Sample)

Describe Ways in Which Social Welfare Responsibilities Shifted From the Federal Government to States during the Reagan and Bush (41) Years
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The era between 1981 (when Regan came in office) to 2001 has been identified as a pivotal moment; it was a critical shift that enabled increase of social welfare to address unresolved problems and meet lost prospect opportunities (DiNitto and Cummins, 2011). The laws established during Regan’s tenure ensured significance in terms of provision of services that gave assistance to the vulnerable and needy people in the society. President Reagan believed that sometimes the government does not offer intervention to the challenges faced by the citizens; instead it creates problems to the people. Some of the problems that the government can cause include creating a lot of welfare services that are dysfunctional; creation of too many regulations that lead to bureaucracy; and another problem is government’s over expenditure and too much taxation.
During his term, Reagan helped to reduce AFDC expenditure and also reduced the costs of benefits that workers were obtaining from public support. DiNitto and Cummins (2011) explain that Reagan advocated enactment of legislation which gave state governments several options to ensure workers’ interests are taken care of and are engaged actively in workforce initiatives. Reagan earned reputation of his effort toward enactment of legislation called Welfare-to-Work Program; a law that gave state governments the power to provide job training services, job placement programs including educational opportunities to welfare recipients. Reagan led the establishment of a supply-side economics legislation that facilitated development of work programs, savings opportunities and investments. The legislation ensured taxes were reduced for companies and organizations in order to increase the benefits of low-income and the middle-class people.
The renowned “New Federalism” marked momentous shift which positively influenced social welfare policy. President Reagan advocated restructuration for federal-state relations, which was a vital mechanism that shifted several domestic programs run by the federal government to be under management and governance of the state governments. The intention was to scrap complex government bureaucratic structures as this was a way of developing more accessible programs to cater for the needs of the citizens who are tax payers (DiNitto and Cummins, 2011). Block grant funding was an important shift in social welfare legislation because it gave the state governments the power to make policies to oversee state responsibilities such as management of education, health care as well as other public interests. During Reagan’s term, the federal government restructured requirements of welfare policy to make certain that state governments not only obtain federal funding, but also manage several public assistance programs. Most of these programs became part of federal welfare reform policies, and consequently led to privatization of public services and also affected other aspects of social welfare policies. The federal welfare legislation faced radical reforms that rendered powers to the state governments to exercise their duties.
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and PRWORA were two important bills under Bill Clinton administration. President Clinton signed the Welfare Reform Act which is also known as PRWORA. This was a legislation that scrapped some federal programs and established laws for federal funding meant for welfare service provision. According to DiNitto and Cummins (2011), these policies also offered block grant funding to every state government to manage their own welfare programs. The policies enabled state governments to form new welfare plans to meet reformed federal objectives. The reform agendas earned significant achievements and, as a result, state governments met the goal of increasing their welfare funding by the year 2002. Many successful efforts were made; many former welfare beneficiaries were assumed for job opportunities and, consequently, poverty was significantly reduced; this marked a historic moment since early 1970s.
Besides that, George W. Bush administration made crucial changes in welfare policy. Since 2001, the caseload of welfare support funding fairly remained unchanged. State governments collectively were receiving $16.5 billion annually, which was a block grant funding that serve important role for state welfare programs. George W. Bush is known for his effort of making important changes to the welfare reform policies. The reform efforts led to formation of a policy that expected welfare beneficiaries to work 40 hours weekly in their job performance and also ensured programs that catered favorable welfare services to workers. Bush administration ensured Medicaid policy to provide grants to enable state...