Federalism In Welfare Programs

POL 201

August 15, 2013
Federalism and Welfare Programs
This essay is to inform you of federal policy issues involving welfare causing conflicting debates between national, state, and local government and how these conflicting issues relate to federalism. Federalism is “A government system where power and authority are shared by national and states governments, with the ultimate authority derived from the people. (Levin-Waldman, 2012). This paper will also describe the history of TANF and discuss debates about the pros and cons of TANF Temporary Assistance to Needy Families and the problems they are intended to solve or improve and the effectiveness of them both.

When people think about welfare
National governments are pretty much threatening the state and local governments so they can enforce programs and funding that they want being the supreme authority over the states. The states or the people within the states truly have no authority in its government. The governments are dependent on each other and should have equal power.

Some conflict arousing from the welfare reform between national and states government are that states and local governments cannot fund these programs by themselves. With that being said the national government can take away states authority. To come up with enough money to support this type of program states usually raise taxes or cut other services. But, this brings concerns to the people of the states who already are against raising taxes. What does this do to the citizen’s states are responsible for. There are arguments and debates that the national government has too much power that also arouses tension between national and state governments.

States don’t always agree on the expectations of the federal government puts on them, which is why you should vote for what you think your states need. The majority should win. To me, effectiveness is a way or method to get something done looking for the response or result that you intended to get. Effectiveness to me should be measured by the number of people it affects.