The New Deal And The Great Society Essay

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Recommended: Part 1 historical development of welfare

Welfare programs are an important part of American society. Without any type of American welfare, people will starve, children will not receive the proper education, and people will not receive any medical help simply because they do not have the resources available to them. Each of the three aspects of the American welfare system are unique in their own ways because they are funded differently and the benefits are given to different people. While support for these welfare systems has declined in the more recent years, the support for it when it was created was strong.
There are three aspects of the American Welfare System that includes social insurance programs, public assistance programs, and private or sector welfare. Each of these aspects
The New Deal occurred in 1933 when 13 million American workers lost their jobs. As a result of the massive job loss, thousands of workers demanded union recognition, unemployed Americans demanded food and shelter, and farmers demanded higher process on their goods. Federally funded jobs and social welfare programs to help the poor were set up by President Roosevelt in order to please the demands of the American people. The New Deal was established with the intention of improving lives, to save capitalism, and to provide a degree of economic security. In 1935, President Roosevelt passed the Social Security Act which, according to Katznelson, Kesselman, and Draper, “offered pensions and unemployment compensation to qualified workers, provided public assistance to the elderly and the blind, and created a new national program for poor single mothers” (332).This act allowed states to set the benefit level for welfare programs, which was set quite low (Katznelson, Kesselman, & Draper, 331-334). The Great Society programs were established by Lyndon Johnson in 1964 when Johnson declared war on poverty. This was would be the action that initiates the Great Society programs. The government used the New Deal as a foundation to build new welfare programs. Medicaid and Medicare were created to help poor and old people with their medical costs. Head Start was established to help low income
Since the New deal and the Great Society programs, the support for the welfare programs has been declining. President George W. Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) bill to try and increase the support for welfare programs by helping low income children. The bill was passed in 2002 and was aimed at closing the educational gap between low income children and wealthy children. The bill wanted children in schools to have a 100% passing rate on all math and reading tests (Katznelson, Kesselman, & Draper, 345-346). According to David Kirp of The New York Times, this bill made student’s test scores decline because children were forced to take multiple standardized tests throughout the school year (Kirp). The No Child Left Behind attempt to improve support for welfare programs failed, so in 2004, President Bush passed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of “Part D.” Part D provided people who have Medicare with drug coverage. Part D also reduced medical costs for the elderly and has expanded drug coverage for the elderly as well. Prescription companies supported the passing of Part D because it made the government not have control over the prices of the prescriptions (Katznelson, Kesselman, & Draper, 346-347). Both of these bills were meant to gain support for welfare programs, but people were still not

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