Legacies of the War on Poverty

Chapter 6. The Safety Net for Families with Children

/ 153 Chapter 6 The Safety Net for Families with Children Jane Waldfogel I n his 1964 State of the Union address, President Lyndon B. Johnson made a statement that still seems remarkable today: “This administration, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America . . . It will not be a short or easy struggle, no single weapon or strategy will suffice, but we shall not rest until that war is won” (Johnson 1964a). This chapter considers three of the major legacies of the War on Poverty’s efforts to strengthen the safety net for low-income families with children: expanded food and nutrition programs, that is, Food Stamps–Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), school breakfast and lunch, and the special supplemental feeding program for women, infants, and children (WIC); extended cash assistance programs, that is, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)–Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for the nonelderly; and new income support programs tied to employment or employment-related activities, in particular, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and child-care subsidies. For each program, the chapter discusses the context at the start of the War on Poverty and action taken during the decade following the declaration of the War on Poverty; a brief overview of the subsequent legislative history and status, including trends in, and current levels of, expenditures and numbers of recipients; the adequacy of the program with regard to reach, level, and type of benefits; and effectiveness at meeting stated program goals. Because the War on Poverty aimed not only to reduce poverty and hardship but also to improve children’s life chances, the chapter also reviews empirical evidence , where available, on how these programs affect child health and development . A large body of research documents that children from low-income families have poorer health and developmental outcomes than their more advantaged peers (for example, Duncan and Brooks-Gunn 1997). However, these differences in outcomes are not necessarily due to the causal effects of income, and may instead at least partly reflect the influence of other factors that are correlated with Legacies of the War on Poverty 154 / income (for example, Mayer 1997). We therefore cannot be certain whether and how much child outcomes could be improved by raising the incomes of lowincome families. This chapter places particular emphasis on studies that use rigorous research methods to address this question. The safety net programs considered in this chapter must be understood in the context of the American welfare state and its distinctive approach to the provision of help to the poor. Compared with other advanced industrialized nations, the United States has taken a more residual approach, expecting individuals to look first to family, community, and employer resources before turning to government assistance. In addition, welfare programs in the United States have been plagued by several common concerns. Americans have always been sensitive to the notion that welfare programs may induce dependency. Unconditional cash and near-cash assistance programs have also been viewed as undermining work incentives and, if provided to unmarried families with children, creating incentives for nonmarital childbearing or family break-up (Murray 1984). For much of the history of these programs, these concerns have been amplified by the disproportionate representation of African American families among the low-income population, leading to racialized attitudes toward welfare that have further eroded public support (Gilens 1999). More recently, concerns about immigration have also undermined public support and led to sharp restrictions on immigrants’ eligibility for many programs (Fix, Capps, and Kaushal 2009). Finally, a common theme has been concern about the rising cost of these programs, even though the United States spends a substantially lower share of its gross domestic product on safety net programs than most other advanced industrialized countries do (Waldfogel 2008). The chapter considers the success of the safety net programs in light of this context as well as the extent to which these concerns have eroded political and public support for the programs. FooD aND NuTRiTioN PRogRaMS A major legacy of the War on Poverty is the introduction or expansion of food and nutrition programs through the 1964 Food Stamp Act and the 1966 Child Nutrition Act. For the most part, these programs either did not exist before the War on Poverty or existed in only small-scale or pilot programs. Instead, what little food assistance was available was provided primarily by community-based groups in the form of programs such as food pantries and soup...