People and communities with limited resources are a major focus of public policy. While policymakers might disagree in theory on whether or to what extent government should act to protect the economic well-being of individuals and families, the federal government in fact spends large sums of money on numerous programs targeted toward those with limited income and assets. This report attempts to identify and analyze these programs and provide a broad overview of the policies underlying them. In FY2009, federal spending on programs for people with low income was almost $708 billion, and totaled nearly $578 billion the previous year. Most of the growth between the two years was related to the recession and associated policy responses, with almost two-thirds (64%) of the increase coming from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA, P.L. 111-5 ). In both years, four programs accounted for almost 60% of total spending, and 10 programs accounted for more than 75%. The distinguishing feature of federal programs examined here is their explicit focus on low-income populations, as distinct from social insurance programs such as Social Security, Medicare, or Unemployment Insurance. Social insurance programs aim to protect American workers universally against lost wages and work-related benefits due to retirement, disability, or temporary periods of unemployment. They are financed in large part through contributions from workers and employers and their aggregate spending is much larger than programs intended specifically for those with low income. Social insurance programs play a major role in reducing poverty among significant segments of the population. In contrast to social insurance, programs examined in this report are funded through general revenues and provide benefits and services to people with limited income either by explicitly tying eligibility to a measure of income, or by targeting assistance through funding allocation formulas or other need-related mechanisms. They attempt to ameliorate or mitigate the effects of low income by providing cash or noncash benefits to help people meet basic needs, such as food, housing, and health care. They also seek to address root causes of economic disadvantage by providing education, training, and other services to improve people's employability and earnings capacity. Some programs combine these purposes by conditioning aid on participation in work or training or providing incentives to engage in these activities. Finally, some programs target assistance to communities with significant concentrations of low-income people to compensate for their low tax capacities, and help provide revenues to support benefits and services to residents. These programs are extremely diverse in their purpose, design, and target populations. Many were created independently of one another, at different times and in response to different perceived policy problems. They also changed over time in response to various societal and other factors. "Social welfare," "social safety net," and "public welfare" are generic terms sometimes used to refer to these programs; however, there is no single label that best describes all programs included in this report. Key findings of the report are presented in the Summary, above. The body of the report is organized as follows: The report begins with a very brief history of federal low-income policy, to provide context for the subsequent discussion of current programs. The report then gives an overview of current federal spending on benefits and services for low-income people, including a review of the budgetary classification of these funds (mandatory or discretionary). The next section looks specifically at the 10 largest programs, which together account for three-fourths of all spending in the report, followed by an overview of all programs, organized by major category in order of FY2009 spending: health care, cash aid, food assistance, housing and development, education, social services, energy assistance, and employment and training. The next two sections look in greater detail at the ways in which benefits and services are directed toward people with limited income, either by establishing explicit eligibility criteria for individuals or families, or by targeting assistance toward communities or entities based on a measure of need. These sections look at use of the federal poverty guidelines and other income measures in defining eligibility or otherwise targeting assistance, as well as criteria that enable certain categories of people to qualify automatically. The form of federal assistance—formula grants, competitive or discretionary awards, direct payments to individuals—is the focus of the next section, which also looks at the immediate recipients of federal funds, such as states, local governments, and nonprofit organizations. The section discusses matching or other requirements for nonfederal spending, and very briefly addresses the participation of Indian tribes and U.S. territories. The report generally does not discuss the value of benefits or services provided; however, the next section shows maximum benefit levels under selected cash and near-cash benefit programs. The report concludes by identifying potential questions for further analysis. The report includes several appendixes: Appendix A discusses the methodologies used to prepare the analysis; Appendix B provides overview tables of programs included in the report; and Appendix C is a series of short fact sheets on each program. Appendix D gives references to information about the federal poverty guidelines and other income measures and eligibility tests. The analysis in this report required numerous decisions about which programs to include, how to categorize them, and what measure of federal spending to use. The methodologies chosen are described in Appendix A . Readers should be aware, however, of the following caveats: The report refers to the target population of these benefits and services as persons with "low" or "limited" income, rather than "poor" people. Although some programs limit participation to individuals with income below federal poverty guidelines, income eligibility criteria vary widely and frequently include people with income above the federal definition of poverty. The number of programs included in this report is not meaningful. While fact sheets are presented for 82 "programs," some could have been characterized as more than one program and others could have been consolidated. In addition, only programs with new obligations of $100 million or more in a given year are included. If smaller programs were included, the overall number of programs would be larger, but the analysis would essentially be unchanged. The assignment of programs—and therefore dollars—to broad categories (health care, cash aid, food assistance, etc.) is not perfect. Certain programs provide multiple types of assistance and spending could not be disaggregated, so spending was assigned to a single category. Some programs are ambiguous; different analysts might categorize them differently. The analysis might be changed somewhat if different assignments had been made. The report does not include tax programs, with the exception of direct spending for the refundable portion of the Earned Income Tax Credit and the refundable Additional Child Tax Credit. The report does not provide long-term trend data on spending. For reasons explained in Appendix A , obligations are generally used as the measure of spending. While obligations are the most consistent program-specific measure available for the majority of programs included here, they are difficult to trace backward. Spending is provided for FY2009 because it is the most recent year for which final amounts are available for all programs included. Because FY2009 was an unusual year, however, with a large infusion of funding from the economic stimulus law (ARRA), FY2008 spending is also shown. The report provides a snapshot of policies and spending for low-income programs in FY2008 and FY2009. It does not address the effectiveness of these programs in meeting their policy goals. Readers familiar with the CRS series of reports entitled Cash and Noncash Benefits for Persons with Limited Income should know that this report is not an update of that earlier series. This report is meant to replace that series but it uses different methodologies and is therefore not comparable to the Cash and Noncash reports. See Appendix A for an explanation of the differences. A review of the evolution of federal policy for low-income people provides useful context for understanding today's programs and policies. The following is a quick overview of key milestones, such as the New Deal of the 1930s and the Great Society of the 1960s. While many current programs trace their roots to these eras, few exist today in the same form. Today's programs reflect policy changes enacted over many decades in response to numerous factors, particularly the shift in societal expectations about mothers working outside the home. Federal aid initially focused on groups who were not expected to work, including mothers of dependent children; however, federal policy today generally favors work among able-bodied aid recipients and includes incentives to "make work pay." Federal policy also expanded over time to include efforts to address root causes of poverty and disadvantage, in addition to helping people meet their basic needs. Federal involvement in providing benefits and services for people with low income generally began in the first part of the 20 th century, largely after the Great Depression overwhelmed the resources of states, local governments, and private organizations, which previously had borne primary responsibility for helping the disadvantaged. With some key exceptions, such as veterans' benefits and tax credits for low-wage workers, state and local governments still play a significant role in most programs intended for low-income populations, regardless of whether they are partially or fully federally funded. Benefits for veterans, initially to meet the medical needs of those who became disabled during service, are among the oldest in the United States, and date back in some form to the beginning of the country. By the early 1900s, these benefits had grown to include medical care and cash assistance for the indigent as well as veterans with disabilities, including assistance for dependents and survivors of veterans. These were the primary benefit programs administered by the federal government until the Great Depression of the 1930s. The New Deal was the federal government's response to the Depression, and the Social Security Act of 1935 was its cornerstone. The act brought the federal government into the fields of social insurance and cash relief for populations who either could not work or who society at that time did not expect to work. The original act established income security programs for aged and retired workers and for temporarily unemployed workers (the beginning of today's Social Security and Unemployment Compensation programs). It also authorized federal grants to states to make cash aid payments to two groups, in addition to the elderly, who were not expected to work.