Safety Net Reform
Too often, our safety net programs do more to trap people in poverty than to lift them out. The complexity of multiple agencies, repetitive paperwork, and disconnected services is exhausting and confusing. And it keeps people stuck. Our research gives lawmakers practical ways to fix the safety net so it can offer a clearer path to work and lasting opportunity.
The U.S. welfare system (or safety net) is a complex system of approximately 80 government programs.
Quick Facts on the Safety Net
Why Does the Safety Net Need Reform?
Public assistance programs help people survive on a basic level, but they don’t currently empower welfare recipients to rise above the poverty line so they can flourish and reach their true potential. Instead of helping people move forward, the system holds them back with confusing rules, disconnected programs, and abrupt benefit cutoffs that discourage people from earning more.
To truly help our neighbors thrive, we need a system that’s simpler, more humane, and more focused on supporting the long-term well-being that comes from work and family stability.
Our Approach
We believe it’s time to transform the way our country serves those in poverty. Americans deserve a welfare system that supports their humanity; dignity; and desires for meaningful work, healthy marriages and families, and upward mobility.
That’s why we tackle the fundamental design flaws in the system that no one else addresses:
- The disconnect between workforce and safety net systems
- The benefits cliffs that penalize people for earning more
- The marriage penalties that discourage stable households
From SNAP to Medicaid and Child Care Assistance: The American Welfare System Explained:
Learn more about the safety net, including its history, some of its major programs, and the reforms policymakers are considering to improve it.
Policy Recommendations
True welfare reform requires structural fixes, not just adding more programs or spending more money. Through our research and state-based work, we focus on four priorities that will have a significant impact on increasing opportunity for welfare recipients.
State Workforce Audits
Too many safety net programs measure success by how many people they enroll—not by how many people they help become self-sufficient. Workforce audits change that by requiring programs to track and report real employment outcomes.
By measuring what matters job placement, wage growth, benefit independence we can identify which programs actually work and scale what’s effective.
Why It Matters
Accountability drives improvement. Programs that must demonstrate results will innovate to achieve them.
What Leaders Can Do
Require outcome reporting for all workforce programs. Tie funding to employment results, not enrollment numbers.
One Door to Work
Imagine being in crisis and having to visit six different offices, fill out dozens of forms, and explain your situation to multiple caseworkers—each focused only on their own program. That’s the reality for millions of Americans navigating the safety net today.
Why It Matters
People aren’t case numbers. They’re whole individuals with interconnected needs that require coordinated solutions.
What Leaders Can Do
Consider ways to implement One Door reforms in their state by establishing task forces to review their welfare and workforce development systems.
Benefits Cliffs Reform
When a working mother earning $12.50/hour gets a $1.25 raise, she should celebrate. Instead, she may lose $15,000 in annual benefits for food, health care, child care, or housing because her new income pushes her over the eligibility threshold. This is the benefits cliff, and it’s one of the most destructive features of the current system.
To solve this critical issue and reward progress instead of penalizing it, policymakers should adopt reforms to eliminate benefits cliffs.
Why It Matters
Work is a vital source of pay and purpose. No one should be financially punished for earning a raise or working more hours.
What Leaders Can Do
Gradually phase out benefits to end sudden cutoffs.
Marriage Penalties Reform
Research consistently shows that two-parent households lead to lower poverty rates, better outcomes for children, and greater economic mobility for families. Yet the safety net actively discourages marriage by slashing benefits when couples wed.
Lawmakers can get rid of marriage penalties by redesigning certain tax and welfare policies so they don’t favor unmarried individuals over married couples.
Why It Matters
Government policies shouldn’t penalize people for making choices that strengthen families and reduce long-term poverty.
What Leaders Can Do
Adjust the federal tax code and reform welfare eligibility rules to treat married and unmarried people fairly.
Resources from our Alliance for Opportunity
The Alliance for Opportunity (A4O) is an initiative founded by GCO, in partnership with the Pelican Institute for Public Policy and the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Through A4O, we’re building a multi-state coalition to advance state and federal policy reforms that empower low-income Americans to find dignity and lasting opportunity through meaningful work.
A4O Publications
What States Can Expect with the New SNAP Match
Leslie Ford
New federal rules will require states with higher SNAP payment error rates to cover more program costs. This report shows the projected amounts for each state based on 2024 error rates.
A4O Publications
How the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) Changes SNAP and Medicaid for States
Leslie Ford
This policy brief breaks down the OBBBA reforms to Medicaid and SNAP for state leaders and administrative officials.
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