Grothman Opens Hearing on Reforming the Deficient Welfare State
WASHINGTON—Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services Chairman Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) delivered opening remarks at the Subcommittee’s first hearing of the 119th Congress titled “Examining the Growth of the Welfare State, Part 1.” Subcommittee Chairman Grothman began his remarks by describing how the rapid expansion of welfare programs has increased dependency on federal government assistance. He explained that instead of encouraging marriage, welfare programs disincentive couples from tying the knot and create unhealthy and unstable conditions for America’s children. Notably, these deficient programs also fund billions of dollars in health care and welfare support for illegal immigrants. Subcommittee Chairman Grothman concluded his remarks with a reminder that reining in these runaway welfare programs is not just important for welfare recipients, but also for American taxpayers. The Subcommittee will work with the Trump administration to tackle welfare reform head on and return these programs to their original functions.
Below are Subcommittee Chairman Grothman’s remarks as prepared for delivery.
Welcome to the Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services’ first hearing of the 119th Congress.
Today we will hear from expert witnesses about the enormous growth of the welfare state.
Over the past 50 years, millions of Americans have received benefits from various welfare programs.
These programs allow low-income Americans to gain access to food, health care, and childcare.
While many welfare programs are vital to the day-to-day of many, their design too often creates dependence on the system.
And the exponential growth in dependency on welfare programs has not corresponded with a proportional reduction in poverty at all.
Today, more than one-in-five able bodied working age adults receive some form of welfare.
In 2022 alone the federal government spent nearly 1.2 trillion dollars on more than 80 welfare programs.
And these numbers have only grown since.
Many of these programs incentivize recipients to remain in the program rather than find employment which would enable them to get out of the programs.
Furthermore, almost all these programs penalize married couples for simply choosing marriage.
Penalties occur when a married couple no longer qualifies for the same benefits that they receive as individuals.
Due in part to these penalties, the percentage of children born to unmarried women has skyrocketed.
In 1960, around 5 percent of children were born to unmarried women.
Today, that number is around 40 percent.
This is simply deeply concerning.
Marriage is the backbone of a stable society and is a force that encourages individuals to be responsible for their families instead of having to rely on government assistance.
Not only is marriage associated with better financial outcomes, but it is also associated with better mental health for married couples and their children.
While I personally know many single parents who do an excellent job raising children, numerous studies have shown that children raised in single-parent households are at heightened risk for substance abuse, crime, dropping out of school, depression, anxiety, and other disorders.
Given that, federal policy should reflect the fact that children do best when they are raised in a stable married two-parent household. For this reason, and many others, the welfare system should foster marriage, not discourage it.
To better understand why this is the case we must go back to the creation of many of these programs.
While some welfare programs began under President Franklin Roosevelt most were created or expanded under President Lyndon Johnson and his so-called “War on Poverty.”
President Johnson’s stated goal in expanding the welfare state was to provide many Americans the chance to pull themselves up out of poverty and reduce dependency on the generosity of others or their government.
It was intended to enable Americans who had stumbled on hard times to make a comeback.
But that is too often not the case in today’s welfare system.
Our current welfare system is designed to ensure dependence on the government and often penalizes marriage.
Sadly, the problems don’t stop there.
Many of the benefits, paid for by taxpayer dollars, are improperly going to illegal immigrants.
In 2023, the federal government spent 23 billion dollars on health care for illegal aliens and another 11.6 billion dollars on food stamps, child nutrition, and other welfare programs.
Not only are we spending billions on illegal immigrants, but often welfare programs are among the most common targets for scammers and fraudsters.
Last year more than 100 billion dollars in improper payments were made from programs like Medicaid, food stamps, and the Earned Income Tax Credit.
This is bad for taxpayers and welfare recipients alike.
If we continue on our current path, it will become increasingly difficult to fund welfare programs, making it hard to justify a safety net for Americans who fall on hard times.
I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today to better understand the enormous growth of the welfare state and how we can prevent government dependency and empower Americans.
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