Report: ‘Battered by the Storm’ Details Safety Net Failures
America’s safety net is full of holes, according to a new national study co-authored by Barbara Ehrenreich, author of “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America” and a person who has spent years researching the daily lives of the working poor.
Battered by the Storm: How the Safety Net is Failing Americans and How to Fix It, published today by the Institute for Policy Studies, a left-leaning think tank based in Washington, D.C., details the inadequacies of the federal welfare system, linking it to an erosion of social supports that began 30 years ago. The report outlines the following key findings:
- Levels of long-term unemployment, underemployment and discouraged workers are reaching historic levels;
- The percentage of poor children receiving temporary assistance under TANF ([Temporary Assistance for Needy Families] the main federal “welfare” program) has fallen from 62% in 1995 to 22% in 2008; [and]
- TANF benefits are far from sufficient to support the families that depend on them: 2008 assistance payments averaged only 29% of the money needed to bring families up to the official poverty line … .
The authors call for a more than $400 billion emergency relief package that includes $40 billion for job creation; up to $270 billion for state and local government fiscal relief; and more than $100 billion to expand TANF, Food Stamps, and unemployment insurance. It also says long-term changes are needed to “end the scourge of poverty in our nation and to help all people achieve a living income, without regard to race, religion, or gender.” Download the report here.