Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Chart of the Week: The Fragmented Federal Welfare System
Chart of the Week: The Fragmented Federal Welfare System
Jul 15, 2026 4:14 AM

The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service estimates that there are currently over 80 federal programs that provide food, housing, healthcare, job training, education, energy assistance, and cash to e Americans. How do they fit together to serve the poor?

During a hearing on Tuesday about better coordinating welfare programs to serve families in need, the chairman of theHouse Ways and Means Human Resources mittee provided the following chart (click to enlarge).

Confused? You’re not the only one. As Rep.Charles Boustany (R-LA) says,

What it shows is, in short, a mess. This system may have started out with good intentions, but it has e a confusing maze of programs that are overlapping, duplicative, poorly coordinated, and difficult to administer. I defy anyone to say this is the best way to address the human tragedy so many of our fellow citizens experience.

(Via: AEI Ideas)

Previous Article：Video: Jay Nordlinger On The Children Of Monsters Next Article：Russell Kirk and Christian Humanism
Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Remembering the prophet of violence and terror
On the bicentennial of Karl Marx’s birth, says Acton research director Samuel Gregg, the world should be excoriating his ideas and the terrorism they spawned, not excusing or celebrating them. It’s always a risky exercise to draw a straight line between particular ideas and human events. Most occurrences in human history have multiple causes. Occasionally, however, you can identify direct links. One example of this is the life and thought of Karl Marx, whose 200th birthday is memorated this month....
Bernie Sanders, jobs, and what work really is
‘Bernie Sanders at a rally in New Orleans, Louisiana, July 26, 2015’ by Nick Solari CC BY-SA 2.0 Last month the Washington Post reported, “Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will announce a plan for the federal government to guarantee a jobpaying $15 an hour and health-carebenefits to every Americanworker “who wants or needs one,”…” These jobs would be the product of hundreds of government projects initiated in, “…infrastructure, care giving, the environment, education and other goals.” The projects, their costs, and...
President Trump Creates a New White House Faith-Based Initiative
On Thursday, President Trump signed an Executive Order establishing the “White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative” within the Executive Office of the President. The order states the purpose is to ensure faith-based munity organizations “have strong advocates in the White House and throughout the Federal Government.” The order renames and reinstitutes an office first created by President George W. Bush. In 2001, the first executive order signed by President Bush established the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives at the...
Another take on ‘Pope Francis and the Caring Society’
ICYMI: Over at The Federalist this past Friday, Ethics and Public Policy Center Fellow Luma Simms reviews Pope Francis and the Caring Society. As noted in my April 18 review, the collection of essays includes perceptive and educational insights from Acton’s own Samuel Gregg as well as many others, including Phillip Booth. The authors of the essays in Pope Francis and the Caring Society understand Catholic social doctrine well. Here they attempt to understand and interpret the current pope in...
Evangelicals, race, and abortion: Finding common cause in the fight for life
In our climate of heightened racial tensions, many evangelicals have sought to openly affirm human dignity and join the fight against racial injustice. For a recent example, one can look to the ERLC’s recent event on the 50thanniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s death, during which 4,000 evangelicals joined together to “reflect on the state of racial unity in the church and the culture.” Yet amid such efforts, we’ve also seen a range of critiques from progressive evangelicals, claiming that...
When big business lowers food prices: the Sainsbury’s-Asda merger
Everyone “knows” that big businesses collude in order to raise consumer prices – and the larger the business, the more it can demand. In that case, what is everyone to do with the merger of two UK supermarket titans, Sainsbury’s and Asda, which is forecast to lower food prices for British families? The merger would see number-two supermarket Sainsbury’s purchase petitor Asda, which is currently owned by Walmart. The £7.3 billion ($9.9 billion U.S.) “tie-up” (which consists of £3 billion...
FAQ: New Karl Marx statue cheered by EU and China
On the 200th anniversary of Karl Marx’s birth, his hometown unveiled a new statue donated by the Chinese government. The event drew praise from EU and German politicians, as well as outrage from pro-liberty thought leaders across Europe and around the world – especially those who had lived under Communist regimes. The president of the European Commission praised Marx’s “creative aspirations,” while anti-Communists called his decision to attend the event “deeply worrisome and outrageous.” What is the new Karl Marx...
Urban revival in the Midwest: What does it mean for freedom?
We’ve long heard about the incessant flow of America’s best and brainiest to the country’s largest urban centers. As such cities continue to rise in population and prominence—from Los Angeles and San Francisco to New York City, Boston, and Washington, D.C.—fears continue to loom about the power of “coastal elites” and the future of America’s “middle.” Those concerns have merit, of course. For although we see plenty of benefits from a density of smarts, skills, and capital, we also see...
The importance of institutions
Note: This is post #77 in a weekly video series on basic economics. When es to understanding economic growth, says Tyler Cowen of Marginal Revolution University, institutions are often critically important. When economists talk about institutions, they mean things like laws and regulations, such as property rights, dependable courts and political stability. Institutions also include cultural norms, such as the ones surrounding honesty, trust, and cooperation. (If you find the pace of the videos too slow, I’d mend watching them...
Don’t save Barnes & Noble!
First it happened to Toys ‘R’ Us, but we did nothing plain). Now it may be happening to Barnes & Noble, and we will do nothing again. (Nothing plain, that is. We’ll definitely do that again.) Yes, to start what will likely be weeks if not months plaining about another big box mega-corporation struggling to stay in the black, David Leonhardt of the New York Times yesterday pleaded that we (meaning government regulators) “Save Barnes & Noble!” He writes, pany’s...
Related Classification
RELIGION & LIBERTY
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
About
Terms and Conditions Privacy policy Cookie Settings Contact Us
Services
Login register
mreligion RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE RELIGION & LIBERTY
Links
zpostcode Recruit weather mreligion Yellowpages sport constellation shopping name game directory literature Word tour furnish Lottery tftnews lyrics News digital car dir Edu Finance
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved