Poverty Rates Increase as Welfare Caseloads Decline

October 18, 2004 Poverty Rates Increase as Welfare Caseloads Decline As the number of welfare recipients in the U.S. continues to decline, poverty rates for single mothers and children have surged in recent years. In August of 2004, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson reported that the number of people on welfare had declined by 149,000 at the end of 2003 compared with 2002, while the number in poverty rose by 1.3 million.  The 1996 reform, which was passed by a Republican Congress and signed by Democratic President Bill Clinton . . .