{
  "id": "RL32233",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL32233",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 104249,
      "date": "2003-11-25",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-08T14:32:54.344544",
      "title": "Cash and Noncash Benefits for Persons with Limited Income: Eligibility Rules, Recipient and Expenditure Data, FY2000-FY2002",
      "summary": "More than 80 benefit programs provide aid -- in cash and noncash form -- that is directed\nprimarily\nto persons with limited income. Such programs constitute the public \"welfare\" system, if welfare\nis defined as income-tested or need-based benefits. This definition omits social insurance programs\nlike Social Security and Medicare.\n  Income-tested benefit programs in FY2002 cost $522.2 billion: $373.2 billion in federal funds\nand $149 billion in state-local funds  (Table 1) . Welfare spending represented\nalmost 19% of all\nfederal outlays, with medical aid accounting for 8% of the budget. Total welfare spending equaled\n5% of the gross domestic product and set a new record high, up $45.3 billion (9.5%) from the\nprevious peak of FY2001. In current dollars, spending increased during the year for all forms of aid\nexcept jobs and training. Higher medical spending accounted for $32.8 billion of the net increase,\nand 54 cents of every welfare dollar went for medical assistance. Expressed in constant FY2002\ndollars ( Table 2) , welfare spending increased by 7.9% from the 2001 level.\n  The composition of welfare spending differed by level of government ( Tables\n 3  and  4 ). \nMedical aid consumed 80% of state-local welfare funds, but 43.9% of federal welfare dollars.\n  Most income-tested programs provide benefits, in the form of cash, goods, or services, to\npersons who make no payment and render no service in return. However, in the case of the job and\ntraining programs and some educational benefits, recipients must work or study. Further, the block\ngrant program of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) requires adults to start work\nafter a period of enrollment, the food stamp program imposes work and training requirements, and\npublic housing requires residents to engage in \"self-sufficiency\" activities or perform community\nservice. Finally, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is available only to workers.\n  An unduplicated count of welfare beneficiaries is not available. Enrollment in TANF and food\nstamps remained far below 1994/1995 peak levels during 2000-2002, but Medicaid enrollment set\na new record high. Average 2002 monthly numbers: Food stamps, 20.2 million; TANF, 5.1 million;\nand Supplemental Security Income (SSI), 6.9 million. During the year 50.9 million persons received\nMedicaid services, and in 2001, EITC payments went to an estimated 16.8 million tax filers. Census\nBureau data indicate that 5.4 million families with children were poor in 2002 before receiving cash\naid from TANF, General Assistance (GA) or the EITC, compared with 6.7 million in 1996 (last full\nyear of the pre-TANF welfare program). Among these families, the EITC was received by 53.7%\nof those with a female head and by 71.7% of those with a male present ( Figure 3) .",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL32233",
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      ],
      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Domestic Social Policy",
    "Health Policy"
  ]
}