# What counts as welfare?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-counts-as-welfare/631003>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [August 9, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-counts-as-welfare/631003 "2012-08-09T21:33:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sweeteviljesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-counts-as-welfare/631003/1 "2012-08-09T21:33:17Z")

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I was looking at [this article](http://money.cnn.com/2012/08/09/news/economy/welfare-reform/index.htm?iid=HP_LN) on [money.cnn.com](http://money.cnn.com) about how welfare reform has slashed money paid to recipients in half and I was struck by this:

> [@](#):
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> To be sure, TANF isn’t the only government aid that low-income Americans receive. There are 69 federal programs that provide help in areas ranging from housing to social services to education to poor Americans, according to the Heritage Foundation. The federal government will spend about $695 billion on this assistance in fiscal 2011.

What programs actually count as welfare?

Thanks,  
Rob

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**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-counts-as-welfare/631003/2 "2012-08-09T21:50:01Z")

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You’d pretty much have to count Medicaid to get to that number because $700 billion dollars is almost the entire federal budget spent on non-interest, non-military, non-old-people related programs. [cite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:U.S._Federal_Spending_-_FY_2011.png).

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**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-counts-as-welfare/631003/3 "2012-08-10T04:14:22Z")

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Some people count anything you get from the government that has income and/or asset limits. So the obvious ones and then also things like Head Start, free/reduced school lunch, EITC (which is a big one, and one that a lot of people who rail against “welfare” get, so that’s fun), discounts on phone service for the low income, needs-based financial aid for college, etc, etc, etc.

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**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-counts-as-welfare/631003/4 "2012-08-10T04:15:22Z")

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I’d say it includes all selective tax breaks.

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**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-counts-as-welfare/631003/5 "2012-08-10T06:05:07Z")

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There hasn’t been welfare in the USA since Clinton signed the Welfare reform act of 1996.

It’s a Teaparty bugaboo.

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**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-counts-as-welfare/631003/6 "2012-08-10T06:35:32Z")

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Welfare is any government spending that goes to _those_ people.