Welfare Reform History
Timeline - 1900s to current
United States |
|
|
| Date |
Event |
|
| May 1932 |
Relief efforts traditionally have been maintained at the
local and county level through-out most of United States history.
But as the depression deepens, the first attempts to fund
relief efforts through Congress fail. Local and state efforts
to fund relief efforts are strained to the limit and national
protests increase.
Finally in May 1932, Congress and President Hoover's adminstration
came to an agreement to shift some relief efforts to the Federal
level and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation is born.
The "Emergency Relief Act of 1932" is passed into law which
supplements local relief efforts with 300 million dollars
in loan money available to the states. By the end of the Hoover
administration, 60% of all national relief efforts are funded
by the federal government.
Note: This section has been modified due to input from one
of our readers. |
|
March 21,
1933 |
Roosevelt calls on Congress to establish the Civilian Conservation
Corps, a public works program, and a federal emergency relief
program. |
|
May 12,
1933 |
Congress passes law to establish Federal Emergency Relief
Program (FERA). Harry Hopkins is appointed to head the agency.
By the time the program ended in 1936, three billion dollars
in relief funds had been distributed.
Note: This section has been modified due to input from one
of our readers. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation passed
in 1932 under President Hoover was the first federal relief
in the United States and not Roosevelt's FERA. |
|
November
1933 |
Roosevelt sets up the Civil Works Administration (CWA) after
concern that direct relief efforts was sapping the dignity
of the people with a "gimme" mentality taking hold of the
destitute. |
|
Spring
1934 |
Civil Works Administration (CWA) was closed down due to
widespread opposition from the business community. |
|
January 3,
1935 |
Roosevelt proposes that direct relief be replaced with a
government public works program which Congress passed into
law in April 1935.
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was thus started with
Harry Hopkins as the agency head.
FERA was abolished and millions of recipients of FERA relief
were transfered to work programs under the WPA and the unemployables
were moved to local relief agencies.
Other federal relief agencies were also started this year
such as the National Youth Administration. |
|
January 17,
1935 |
Social Security Bill was passed that included direct relief
and provisions for unemployment insurance.
This bill contained the original provisions for the original
"Welfare", AFDC (now Temporary Aid for Needy Families: TANF)
and relief programs in the United States as we know them today.
States would receive grants for administrating local and state
based welfare programs with matching federal funds.
Bil allowed $18 per month for one child and $12 for each additional
child. |
|
| 1935 |
20 million people receive relief. "Unemployed Councils"
and many other groups demanding help sprung up all during
the 1930's. |
|
| 1939 |
1939 Relief Act was passed that placed a 18 month time limit
on an individual's participation in the WPA job program. |
|
| 1940 |
Surveys of worker's cut from the WPA job program (due to
the 18 month limit) show that only 100,000 of the 775,000
found jobs in the private sector within 2-3 months. |
|
December
1940 |
360,000 families are receiving Aid to Families with Dependent
Children (AFDC). |
|
| 1950's |
AFDC grows by only 110,000 families. |
|
| 1960's |
AFDC grows by a much larger amount of 800,000 families as
President Johnson's "War on Poverty" attempts to assist the
poor. |
|
| 1964 |
Economic Opportunity Act passed Congress promoted as President
Johnson's "War on Poverty".
Johnson's social programs became known as the "Great Society."
|
|
| 1973 |
Nixon administration attempts to reduce welfare rolls by
complicating the verification process. |
|
| 1988 |
Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) act was passed
by the U.S. Congress to assist the poor in moving from welfare
to work. |
|
| 1990 |
Purchasing power of the AFDC dollar drops by an average
of 42 percent from 1970 to 1990.
Food stamps do not suffer the same fate since they were indexed
for inflation starting in 1972. |
|
| 1996 |
"The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act of 1996" becomes law. Welfare reform is
again passed by U.S. Congress with a lifetime limits on receiving
AFDC payments. |
