document: In his State of the Union address last January , President Reagan announced that welfare reform would be a priority of his administration in its final three years . He instructed his charges to draw up plans for `` immediate action '' that would enable poor families to achieve `` real and lasting emancipation '' from welfare dependency . `` The success of welfare , '' he said , `` should be judged by how many of its recipients become independent of welfare . '' The president 's convincing message raised hopes that something would finally be done to break the cycle of poverty and dependency that afflicts several million welfare families . Americans have become increasingly exasperated by the enormous amount of money the federal government devotes each year to anti-poverty programs , with little apparent abatement in poverty . The president correctly sensed that the public wants reform . If the president lets up on welfare reform , he will disappoint those whose hopes he raised last January , a group that surely includes many of the poor who understand better than any politician how deficient the current system is . To build on the momentum he created a year ago , the president must make plain his commitment in the State of the Union message next Tuesday . To pull away now would be to undercut the welfare-reform movement just as it has hit its stride . The president ought to challenge Congress to respond to his initiatives . His Domestic Policy Council has drafted a blueprint . It would give the states wider latitude to experiment with welfare programs . Many of the governors seem to like the plan , as they have already unveiled their own proposals for welfare reform . The president and the governors should be natural allies on this issue , and the chances of success would be enhanced if they could jointly commit themselves to a plan of action . The president will need all the help he can get if he is to convince Democrats in Congress to go along . Most have paid lip service to the idea of welfare reform but nary a bill has been put on the docket . This suggests that the Democrats are n't as serious about welfare reform as the governors and the American public are . There is a reason for this . The Democrats have long been beholden to the welfare lobby , whose interests now have less to do with alleviating poverty than with enlarging the welfare bureaucracy . This past December , a coalition of some 80 organizations , most with headquarters in Washington , issued a `` statement of principles '' calling for increased spending for poverty and jobs programs . It also insisted that the federal government has `` primary responsibility '' for operating welfare . Congressional Democrats seem to be in agreement with the welfare lobby . However , the public wants the system changed . It will be difficult for Congress to sell restored or additional spending on current poverty programs when the American people are already spending more than $ 100 billion a year on these programs . The president should take up his case for reform directly with the American people . With the alliance of reform-minded governors and the support of the public , the president can press Congress to move off the deadening status quo . With the ball in its court , Congress can decide either to work with the president and the governors , or it can continue to place the interests of the welfare lobby ahead of the interests of the poor .
extractive_keyphrases: welfare reform president reagan federal government americans welfare programs welfare dependency