Scotto 1

Mario Scotto

Aughenbaugh

English 12

06 February 2017

Welfare is an Inside Job

Each year there are recipients of welfare benefits that abuse their privileges. In 2012, the

Census Bureau calculated 109,631,000 of the 309,467,000 people living in the United States

living in households receive and take welfare benefits, that is slightly over 35% of the population

(Fisher). That is an overwhelming statistic all amongst itself. Clearly this a problem on the rise in

our country. U.S. legislators should mandate an annual drug test on welfare recipients in order to

fully receive benefits.

Over one third of the population is proclaimed to be on welfare. That is money going to

people who shouldn't have it. Essentially the government is endorsing this behavior by giving

money and/or benefits to welfare recipients which a good lump some of those recipients abusing

the privileges. Snap and AFDC programs are believed to be funded by unfairly taxing those

who are willing to work (Dewey). So with all the hard earned money the middle class makes

most of it is going back to the government and they are taking that money and giving to those on

welfare where the money is used for all but good purpose. It was through the years of 07 and

09 that random drug tests were proposed as a suggestion by the government (Sheahen). The

government also issued that tax dollars will not support welfare recipients presumed drug habits.

With this idea tax reduction on the middle class would be more plausible and fraudulent use of

benefits can lead to persecutions, often imprisonment. (Maine DHHS: Welfare Fraud Could

Surpass Last Years Record.)

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Welfare fraud and drug addiction have a direct positive correlation. Approximately 20%

of welfare recipients misuse benefits by the unlawful taking of drugs. One state in particular that

has had its struggles with welfare fraud has been the state of Maine. Last year 105 cases totalled

more than 1.2 million dollars in stolen benefits. That is just in one state and has a reported 76

billion dollar annual budget nationally. Every year states conduct nearly 450,000 welfare fraud

investigations, 14,000 are charged with felons , and the IRS launches 5,000 fraud cases per year

on its own. Welfare is robbing the middle class and all the hard workers within. Instead of

rewarding this negligent behavior, rightfully mandate a monthly drug test to each welfare

recipient to ensure the money is going to life necessities and strictly that (Maine DHHS:

Welfare Fraud Could Surpass Last Years Record.)

Not only should they be drug tested, if they have a child to take care of they should be

monitored daily. Most of these people are unable to manage the children on their own. Child

welfare puts a spotlight on parental substance use with an astonishing result of leaving many

children homeless. Communities have tried to provide guidance to those in need, but many do

not accept the offers. The first step of repairing yourself is to accept the help that you need in

your life and to welcome those who are willing to help resolve key issues. More than 360 family

drug courts have been established and yet nobody wants to go. Prescription drugs that have been

given to children from doctors are being abused by the parent. This jeopardizes the child and

could permanently affect the child.

The capitalist system has been deemed to cause poverty. With 25% of the country

classified as poor and no where to go what do we do? We give them jobs, but the government

doesnt want us to do that. Instead they believe it is better to keep them poor and tax people
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progressively according to annual income. While we should be giving all equal opportunity to

work and supply them with jobs so that instead of giving free money to the homeless have

them work and pay things off so that they have the feeling that all others do and can help

contribute to the national debt. 90% of the population is dependent on wages (Mead). If Tim

makes 10 dollars an hour and lets say if one day he is let go by his workplace he gets hired

somewhere else at 9 dollars an hour which may not be bad for someone else but for Tim it is not

going to cut it he was highly dependent at the rate of 10 dollars per hour and now is claimed to

be poor. Liberals persist on alleviating poverty in general but how are they going to execute this

task?

Since the start of the recession the number of SNAP recipients has nearly doubled, which

means taxes have nearly done the same to support this movement. These people survive on an

average income of 9,000 dollars per year. The Poverty line is at approximately 12,000 dollars,

anything above would be considered fair and anything below would be considered

poor(Young). Programs like these do benefit people but how much do they really benefit

people. Is it really worth robbing the ones who work for everything they rightfully own and

possess as theirs.

As much as there are people that are all for drug testing the welfare there are just as many

that are totally against the idea. Opponents of random drug testing for welfare recipients point

to data showing that those on welfare are far less likely to do drugs than those who are not on

welfare (Peer Mentoring in Child Welfare). Those are the opponents of drug testing the

welfare, which could be people on welfare themselves. These are perhaps the suspects that are

being investigated for welfare fraud. One might say that those on welfare rightfully deserve

everything the government is giving to them. Another person may state that welfare recipients
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are robbing the middle class and are cheating the government to make a little extra money. The

fact of the matter is an estimated 20% of welfare recipients abuse their benefits due to drugs. It

has been reported that a good portion of food stamp recipients have been selling their stamps to

buy drugs, something that should immediately raise a red flag and lead to persistent drug testing

(Kondratas).

Thus, in conclusion all welfare recipients should be required to take a monthly mandated

drug test. No one on drugs should be given benefits because they will take that money to

continue their uncontrollable habit and screw over the middle class. These people need to persist

on pursuing to engage in applying in the workforce and get jobs. These people dont need money,

these people need encouragement and that starts with counseling. Instead of giving them

money ,which the government spends 76 billion on annually, give them counseling and

encouragement to find and/or create more jobs to not only better themselves, but to also help

everyone else out by them pitching in to the economy and lowering the national debt, which

leads to lower taxes for all.

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Works Cited

Associated Press. Maine DHHS: Welfare Fraud Could Surpass Last Years Record. AP

Regional State Report Maine (2016): Newspaper Source Plus. Web 18 Jan. 2017.

Dewey, Joseph Phd. Drug Testing Welfare Recipients Salem Press Encyclopedia (2013): Topic

Overviews Public Libraries. Web. 19 Jan. 2017.

Fisher, Rob. The Hand That Feeds You. Al Jazeera America. Al Jazeera Media Network, 2017,

Web. 18 Jan. 2017

Kondratas, Anna. Hunger is Not Epidemic. Poverty: Opposing Viewpoints. Ed. William

Dudley. St Paul: Greenhaven Press, 1988 50-57. Print.

Mead, Lawrence. A Reluctance to Work Causes Poverty. Poverty: Opposing Viewpoints. Ed.

William Dudley. St. Paul: Greenhaven Press, 1988. 73. Print.

Meltzer, Milton. Racial Discrimination Affects Poverty. Poverty: Opposing Viewpoints. Ed.

William Dudley. St. Paul: Greenhaven Press, 1988. 145-150. Print.

New Union Staff. The Capital System Causes Poverty. Poverty: Opposing Viewpoints. Ed.

William Dudley. St. Paul: Greenhaven Press, 1988. 61-65. Print.

Rockhill, Anna, Carrie J. Furrer, and Thuon M.Duong. Peer Mentoring in Child Welfare: A

Motivational Framework. Child Welfare 94.5 (2015) 125. MasterFILE Main Edition. Web 17

Jan. 2017.

Sheahen, Allen. Poverty in America is a Serious Problem. Poverty: Opposing Viewpoints. Ed.

William Dudley. St. Paul: Greenhaven Press, 1988. 17-24. Print.

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Young, Nancy K, and Julie Collins. Special Foreword: Substance Use and Child Welfare.

Child Welfare. 94.5 (2015): MasterFILE Main Edition. Web.13 Jan. 2017.