The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program - touted by members of Congress as a highly effective cash assistance program for low-income parents and kids - is a program distinguished by failure and no substitute for a monthly federal stipend for families with children. Read more»

In the 25 years since President Bill Clinton took Ronald Reagan's notions to their apotheosis in his 1996 welfare reform law - which Clinton said would “end welfare as we know it” - federal welfare funding, frozen by law at 1996 levels, has been decimated. Read more»

States are sitting on $5.2 billion in unspent funds from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program amid rising poverty rates among all age groups across the county. Read more»

Each year, Arizona redirects upward of $30 million of its welfare funding to the Department of Child Safety - over $8 million more than the state spends on welfare itself - who then investigate the same low-income families who could have benefited from cash assistance. Read more»

Utah has been counting millions in LDS Church welfare work every year as part of the state’s welfare budget, as a way of meeting the minimum level of effort the state is required to put into addressing poverty so it can collect on federal dollars and increasing church membership. Read more»

Women who apply for welfare often have to identify who fathered their children and when they got pregnant, among other deeply personal details, then state governments use that information to pursue child support from the dads — and pocket the money. Read more»

Experts at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities outline how states can remove restrictive requirements placed on Black families to receive cash assistance for food, bills or rent, after research found that Black women with children were repeatedly excluded from the programs. Read more»

A federal judge in New York issued a nationwide injunction Wednesday barring enforcement of a Trump administration rule that prevents immigrants from qualifying for green cards or other visas if they are likely to become dependent on government benefits. Read more» 1

FactCheck examines President Donald Trump claims that the RAISE Act “prevents … new immigrants from collecting welfare.” Read more»

I'm sorry, did they trip over something? Arizona Senate President Andy Biggs is treating the results of Arizona's supply-side experiment like the Cousin Jesse the kids aren't supposed to talk about. Seems an odd approach, but a quarter-century of cutting taxes and spending has left Arizona trailing high-tax states. Read more» 4

The campaign commercials are out in full force. The candidates on the left and right have been picked and the mud-slinging has begun. Read more»

The director of Arizona’s Department of Economic Security told a House subcommittee Wednesday that money’s not the problem when it comes to the welfare system – the system is. Read more»

A federal proposal aims to take away from welfare recipients the opportunity of using Electronic Benefit Transfer cards in liquor stores, casinos or strip clubs by forcing states to prohibit their use in those businesses. Read more»

We found several exaggerations and misstatements in the latest Republican presidential candidates’ debate. Romney issued a hollow threat to take China’s currency manipulation to a world body that doesn’t actually deal with overvalued money, and he claimed federal spending consumes more of the nation’s economic output than it really does. Read more»

State Rep. Frank Antenori thinks you shouldn't be able to buy alcohol or tobacco if you're on welfare. Read more» 1