reaction to sharon hayes (welfare)

This article discusses the reforms to the welfare program in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. I agree with Hayes that there are both positive and negative things that have come out of it. I think that it was a good idea, in theory, to try to emphasize the need for welfare recipients to become financially independent, but the execution of this plan is much more difficult. Reform was definitely needed in the welfare program, though. Once on welfare, recipients had no real incentives to go out and get a job, so they became increasingly dependent on welfare checks. This was extremely expensive for American taxpayers, and it was not really helping people because they were completely dependent on welfare for survival. Under the Personal Responsibility Act, the goal is to put pressure on recipients to get a job and give them the training they need in order to do so. The main problem with this is that the majority of recipients are not lacking the motivation to get a job, but the circumstances in which they live keep them from doing so. Also, most of the jobs available to them provide very low wages which cannot even cover their basic needs a lot of the time, especially when trying to support a family. Furthermore, this reform is even less effective at a time when the economy is doing poorly, as it is now. In our present economic situation, it is even more difficult to find work, so recipients will become increasingly desperate to find work.