ABSTRACT
Poverty persists, not because the ideas of the War on Poverty planners were fundamentally mistaken, but because the changing economy increased economic hardships for many workers
and existing antipoverty policies did not respond sufficiently to offset market-generated increases in poverty. Policies also failed to respond adequately to largely unanticipated changes
in family organization. (Cancian and Danziger 2009, 11)
The issue of poverty and government’s response to this issue, welfare, invokes many of the features of the policy process and the political system discussed in Chapter 1. There is disagree-
ment about the causes of poverty-the problem identification stage of the policy process-and therefore disagreement about appropriate solutions. There is disagreement over whether government should be involved in this area and, if so, how it should be involved (the government issue). Many welfare programs have shared fiscal and administrative responsibility between the federal government and the states, so federalism becomes a concern. Also, authority for welfare programs is split among a number of different agencies at the federal level and different committees in Congress, so fragmentation is a consideration. Because adoption of policy requires congressional and presidential assent, separation of powers is important. Incrementalism has been a key feature of poverty policy making. New programs and ideas have been added to old ones over time, although in 1996 significant changes to the nation’s welfare system were made. Finally, welfare policy and poverty bring into sharp focus the issue of values. Issues related to poverty and welfare have to do with family structure, the increase in out-of-wedlock births, and dependency. We should inquire as to how well our welfare and antipoverty programs worked during the 2007-2009 recession and its aftermath. In short, many of the features that were examined in Chapter 1 come into full play in poverty policy.
