Law Commons^™

Promoting Marriage Experimentation: A Class Act?, Julie Nice

Julie A. Nice

For nearly sixty years, the federal government maintained a policy of preventing or discouraging receipt of welfare by two-parent families. In its massive overhaul of welfare in 1996, Congress reversed course and declared its new policy was to promote marriage for welfare recipients. With great fan fare, the Bush Administration pledged $1.5 billion to support a healthy marriage initiative for recipients of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. As Professor Nice reveals, however, the marriage promotion policy is not what it seems to be. For example, in the 2005 Deficit Reduction Act, Congress quietly reinstated a marriage penalty by authorizing sanctions …