Recently, this writer testified before a U.S. House Oversight and Reform subcommittee hearing about the growth of the welfare state and the need for reform.
I was prepared to discuss the importance of prioritizing work and marriage in public assistance programs.
This writer couldn’t wait to explore bipartisan ways to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in the labyrinth of over 80 federal taxpayer-funded benefit programs.
I wasn’t ready for all of the pushback from Democratic lawmakers toward both of those goals. Democrats in Congress hate the war on welfare waste.
Their rallies and rhetoric aren’t just in front of the camera. Their opposition to working together to fix broken aspects of our social safety net could stall much-needed reforms.
Unlike previous eras, including 1990s bipartisan welfare reforms with then-President Bill Clinton and a Republican Congress, conservatives should be prepared to go it alone.
We’ve all seen the antics of leading Democrats in D.C.
They’re trudging from federal agency to agency, performing for the cameras and expressing outrage against efforts by President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to massively cut the federal workforce and slash incomprehensible spending.
At the rallies, comments quickly turned violent:
"This will be a congressional fight, a constitutional fight, a legal fight, and on days like this a street fight, yes we will stand," said Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-Md.
"We are gonna be in your face, we are gonna be on your a**es, and we are going to make sure you understand what democracy looks like, and this ain’t it," Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, added. And Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., declared, "God d***it shut down the Senate! We Are at War!"
Many Americans might believe that left-wing lawmakers are truly fighting for needy and forgotten Americans if they would support audits of agencies — not just audits of American taxpayers — and force agencies to implement changes that would catch and stop wrongdoing in the future.
Yet, when their colleagues in Tuesday’s hearing were confronted with this writer's testimony highlighting that "according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimated that taxpayers have lost $2.7 trillion since fiscal year 2003, or between $233 billion and $521 billion annually, on fraudulent payments" or that fraud and improper rates in welfare programs amount to over 20%, they dug into the narrative that all the conservatives in the room, like myself and the other pro-welfare reform panelist, Heritage Foundation’s Dr. Robert Rector, were somehow demonizing people in welfare.
Here's the fact check on that: We. Did. Not.
Ranking Member Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., and Lateefah Simon, D-Calif., illustrated the importance of welfare support for families going through rough times.
I appreciated their personal stories; they were authentic and raw at moments.
However, minimizing the efforts to combat abuse of our social safety net does the poor a disservice. When recipients of food assistance, housing vouchers, or Medicaid fraudulently claim benefits they do not qualify for because federal agencies lack the interest, tools, or authority to go after wrongdoing, truly needy individuals suffer by crowding them out of limited resources.
Similarly, growing enrollment in welfare programs is not a signal of success but bloat and distress. The federal government and states relaxed eligibility requirements or expanded definitions of the needy to individuals earning far above the federal poverty line.
During recessions, welfare programs increased to serve those who lost jobs but never returned to precession levels. The COVID-19 pandemic and four years of Biden administration spending made matters worse despite job openings reaching peak levels.
Additionally, in recent years, federal policy shifted away from conditioning aid on work or skills development.
Compassion is encouraging and empowering individuals to move into independence, not helping low-income individuals stay locked into poverty, and welcoming others who can be self-sufficient to game the system.
Over the next 10 fiscal years, the government will increase welfare spending by a drastic 34%. Our social safety net needs to be rightsized.
As more is uncovered about the scope of fraud and egregious abuses of public assistance, Americans’ appetite for reforming welfare programs may expand toward hunger for real change.
This is a pivotal moment, nearly 30 years in the making.
Welfare reform in the 1990s was applauded because it upset three decades of poverty programs that left many low-income families — particularly Black families — poorer and more destabilized.
Today, poverty is concentrated among single-parent families.
Two-parent families began to disintegrate after financial incentives in welfare programs made it more cost-effective for mothers to raise their children alone or, cohabiting outside of marriage.
As Rector explained, "When Lyndon Johnson launched the War on Poverty, 7% of American children were born outside marriage. Today the number is over 40%."
With DOGE at full throttle, the time is now to propose a new wave of welfare reforms that can nudge people back into the workforce and right-size our social safety net.
The poor and taxpayers more than deserve it.
Patrice Onwuka is director of the Center for Economic Opportunity at Independent Women and co-host of WMAL’s O’Connor & Company. Follow her on Twitter: @PatricePinkFile. Read Patrice Lee Onwuka's Reports — More Here.