Today our welfare programs are giving away too much money and the systems need to be reformed again. In 1996, the Welfare Reform Act was signed into law and improved the entire program. However, since then the programs have been abused and need to be reformed again. Most people who receive state or federal funding own more luxury items than the average middle-class family. The government should vet families who receive help to make sure they actually need the help. The government should also impose more conditions on the various state social programs. Many people across the country are abusing the system set up to help people survive in times of need. Welfare was created in the 1930s, following the Great Depression, to provide some assistance to people when the economy was at its lowest ebb. Welfare includes several different programs such as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families), Medicaid, and WIC (Women, Infants, Children). These are the four most common and abused programs offered in the state of Illinois. There once was a myth about a woman called the “welfare queen.” She was a woman, usually African American, with several children from whom she had to collect benefits, she sat on the couch or rode around in a luxury car and it was all paid for by the government (Stein). She never worked a day in her life because it was simply easier to get pregnant and receive TANF benefits. This has slowly changed over the years, now it's not just African American women, 38.8% of welfare recipients are white but 39.8% are African American (brain). SNAP or Supplemental...... middle of paper ... ...od and service. December 17, 2013. April 30, 2014. Association, National WIC. nwic.org. April 30, 2014. Brain, Statistics. statisticsbrain.com. January 1, 2014. Retrieved April 29, 2014.desertbeacon.com. Desert beacon. February 6, 2012. April 26, 2014. Falk, Gene. “The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant: Frequently Asked Questions.” » Research report. 2013.Foundation, Kaiser Family. kff.org. May 4, 2013. April 30, 2014. Matthews, Dylan. “Welfare reform got people off the ground. It could also have shortened their lives.” The Washington Post (2013): 2, April 30, 2014. Priorities, Center of Budget and Policy. centreonbudget.org. March 19, 2014. Archived from the original on April 29, 2014. Saddler, Michelle RB dhs.state.il.us. April 29, 2014.—. dhs.state.il.us. 2014. April 29, 2014. Stein, Gary. “Where are all the couch potatoes and welfare queens?” The Huffington Post (2014): 1.