{
  "id": "RL33340",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL33340",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 351121,
      "date": "2006-03-27",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T19:07:41.536029",
      "title": "Cash and Noncash Benefits for Persons with Limited Income: Eligibility Rules, Recipient and Expenditure Data, FY2002-FY2004",
      "summary": "More than 80 benefit programs provide aid\u2014in cash and noncash form\u2014that is directed primarily to persons with limited or low income. Such programs constitute the public \u201cwelfare\u201d system, if welfare is defined as income-tested or need-based benefits. This definition omits social insurance programs like Social Security and Medicare.\nIncome-tested benefit programs in FY2004 cost approximately $583 billion: $427 billion in federal funds and $156 billion in state-local funds (Table 1). Spending on these programs represented 18.6% of all federal spending, with medical aid accounting for 9% of the budget. Total low-income spending in FY2004 equaled 5% of the gross domestic product and set a record high, up $34 billion (6.2%) from the previous peak of FY2003. In current dollars, spending on income-tested programs increased during the year for all forms of aid except jobs, training, services, and energy aid. Higher medical spending accounted for $26 billion of the net increase in FY2004, and 55 cents of every low-income dollar went for medical assistance. Expressed in constant FY2004 dollars (Table 2), income-tested spending increased by 3.8% from the 2003 level.\nThe composition of low-income spending differed by level of government (Tables 3 and 4). Medical aid consumed nearly 82% of state-local funds, but 46% of federal low-income dollars.\nMost income-tested programs provide benefits in the form of cash, goods, or services to persons who make no payment and render no service in return. However, in the case of the job and training programs and some educational benefits, recipients must work or study for wages, grants, or loans. Further, the block grant program of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) requires adults to start work after a period of enrollment, the food stamp program imposes work and training requirements, and public housing requires residents to engage in \u201cself-sufficiency\u201d activities or perform community service. Finally, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is available only to workers.\nAn unduplicated count of beneficiaries of income-tested programs is not available. Enrollment in TANF and food stamps remained below 1994-1995 peak levels during 2002-2004 (although food stamp enrollment rose from the 2000-2002 period), while Medicaid enrollment set a record high. Average 2004 monthly numbers: food stamps, 24.9 million; TANF, 4.7 million; and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), 7.1 million. During the year, 56.1 million persons received Medicaid services, and in calendar year 2004, EITC payments went to an estimated 19.2 million tax filers. Census Bureau data indicate that 5.8 million families with children were poor in 2003 before receiving cash aid from TANF, General Assistance (GA), or the EITC, compared with 6.7 million in 1996 (the last full year of the pre-TANF welfare program). Among these families, the EITC was received by 43.8% of those with a female head, and by 67.8% of those with a male present (Figure 3).",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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          "encoding": "utf-8",
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL33340",
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      ],
      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Domestic Social Policy",
    "Energy Policy",
    "Health Policy"
  ]
}