The Exploration Of Reagan Administration Social Assistance Policy Reform

Social assistance in the United States is also known as public assistance,which is to helpthe poor classes to maintain minimum life level and enjoy certain rights (mainly refers toaccepting higher education), it plays a social stabilizer and regulator role.In 1935 the firstsocial security code was implemented in the United States, which marked the establishment ofsocial assisatance. After the second world war II, social assistance is expanding and the levelis rising, which increased the government’s economic burden, making financial deficitincreased year after year. Face this situation, in 1981 President Reagan took office and beganto reform the whole America’s social security system , he decreased the fiscal expenditure tolighten the burden of government. Reform has made great achievements, but also has somelimitations .The full content of this paper contains five parts.The first part introduces the origin , establishment and evolution of social assistance. Inthe early days, some different forms of aid is popular in American society, but these are veryweak. In 1929 the worldwide economic crisis made people aware of the necessity of effectivesocial assistance system. In 1935 the social security act marked the establishment of socialassistance in the United States. After the second world war II, after the reforms andadjustments made by Kennedy ,Johnson and Nixon,the social assistance became increasinglyrich and perfect, and had a wider coverage, these programs played a large role in ensuring thebasic life of the American people.The second part introduces the social situation when Reagan took office.After the 70 s, theAmerican economy was into therecession, the expanding of social assistance increased theeconomic burden of the government ,the waste is serious, the budget deficit is rising year byyear, the American people appeared lazy and refused to make progress. ,The social assistancewas facing crisis.The third part introduces Reagan’s reform thoughts about the social welfare. He advisedto reduce the overweight economic burden of federal government by cutting down thespending of social security.Through the development of the private career and community,coupled wjth raising qualifications to reduce the number of people who enjoy social welfarebenefits in order to reduce spending .Besides, Reagan reduced the responsibility of the federalgovernment in social security and by transformed more responsibilities to state and localgovernments in this process.The fourth part introduces the concrete reform in main projects of social assistance. Reagan reform mainly focused on the aids to the families with dependent children(AFDC),Medicaid and Food Stamps .By adding the qualifications to reduce the number ofpeople who enjoyed the social assistance, and cut down the fiscal expenditure under thepremise of ensuring the poor to obtain the safeguard of life.The fifth part introduces the evaluation towards Reagan social assistance reform andwhat you have learned from the reform.Although Ronald Reagan lived through lots ofcriticism for his reform, but the reforms succeeded to reduce spending and the economicburden of the government, and more power was transferred to the states and localgovernments, which enhanced the flexibility of the local governments. Therefore the 80 s isalso called the watershed of the social security system in the United States. but it also has itslimitations: it cannot eliminate poverty in the United Statescompletely, and the fullemployment has not been achieved, and to a certain extent, the reform intensifies thepolarization between the rich and the poor and social injustice phenomenon .So Americansocial assistance reform still has a long way to go.