Total Welfare Spending Is Rising Despite Attempts at Reform
Everyone wants to know more about the budget and here is some key information with a chart from the Heritage Foundation and a video from the Cato Institute.
Total means-tested welfare spending (cash, food, housing, medical care, and social services for the poor) has increased 17-fold since the beginning of Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty in 1964. Though the current trend is unsustainable, the Obama Administration plans to increase future welfare spending rather than enact true policy reforms.
WELFARE SPENDING IN INFLATION-ADJUSTED DOLLARS (2010)
Chart 10 of 42
In Depth
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Policy Papers for Researchers
- FACTSHEET ON MARCH 17, 2011Welfare Reform The Next Steps
- BACKGROUNDER ON JUNE 24, 2010Confronting the Unsustainable Growth of Welfare Entitlements: Principles of Reform and the Next Steps
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Technical Notes
The charts in this book are based primarily on data available as of March 2011 from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The charts using OMB data display the historical growth of the federal government to 2010 while the charts using CBO data display both historical and projected growth from as early as 1940 to 2084. Projections based on OMB data are taken from the White House Fiscal Year 2012 budget. The charts provide data on an annual basis except… Read More
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Authors
Emily GoffResearch Assistant
Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy StudiesKathryn NixPolicy Analyst
Center for Health Policy StudiesJohn FlemingSenior Data Graphics Editor