For Love or Money: Marriage as Economic Policy

Republican Conference Chairman Rick Santorum (PA) is working to pass the Healthy Marriage Initiative by attaching it to the welfare reform reauthorization bill, which will probably reach the Senate floor by spring 2005.

Santorum was unable to move the initiative on its own in 2004, so his new strategy is to include it in a bill that he believes will pass this year.

After all, the welfare reform reauthorization bill and the Healthy Marriage Initiative target the same group: struggling parents that have few prospects for good jobs. Santorum claims that both the welfare reform bill and the marriage initiative will help no-income and low-income parents become stable, but critics argue that the legislation may further undermine those in need.

The healthy marriage initiative

President Bush’s Healthy Marriage Initiative would spend $200 million a year to increase the number of two-parent families and decrease out-of-wedlock childbearing.

To accomplish this, the initiative would promote marriage, teach relationship skills, and reduce the financial penalties against marriage that currently exist in the welfare program.

More specifically, the program would launch public advertising campaigns for marriage and teach high school students about the value of saying "I do." It would sponsor workshops on parenting skills and conflict resolution for unwed pregnant women and expectant fathers and provide "marriage-enhancement" training to couples who are already wed.

The initiative’s proponents insist that the program would be voluntary and that there would be no penalty for unwed welfare mothers who choose not to participate. In addition, supporters claim that the program would avoid adding to government bureaucracy by contracting with private organizations that boast high success rates in marriage-skills training.

Money and ideals

Opponents argue that marriage training is not the best use of scarce welfare dollars. If the 2005 initiative is anything like the healthy marriage proposals of years past, then it will divert money from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) budget and will require cash-strapped states to match federal funds.

Democrats say that the money would be better spent on job training and education, skills that are proven to improve economic status.

Further, critics worry about the content of the proposed "marriage-skills training." If non-government organizations and for-profit organizations manage such training, how could Congress ensure that these "marriage-enhancement" workshops wouldn’t teach outdated concepts such as wives should be subordinate to their husbands?

Indeed, Robert Rector, a senior fellow at the Heritage foundation who is in favor of the initiative, admits that the program is trying to "target women and men earlier in their lives when attitudes and relationships are initially being formed." Rector sees the initiative as a preventive measure - he believes that teaching young people the value of wedlock will allow them to have healthy marriages and children in the future. Few argue with that concept, but if the program is meant to mold young minds, what if it teaches traditional definitions of marriage that restrict women to housework and childbearing?

The importance of marriage

Bush, Santorum, and others in favor of the program claim that the collapse of marriage is the primary cause of child poverty in the United States. They link single parents with economic struggle and married parents with economic success.

Half of all marriages in this country end in divorce. At whom is marriage training aimed? Whose theories about marriage are proved successful? Who would decide on the preferred training theories? From this point of view, the Healthy Marriage Initiative is not a plan to help Americans enjoy strong relationships, but an economic policy to get people off of welfare.

The philosophy behind this policy is debatable - should government be promoting marriage as an economic program, or should Congress stick to purely financial strategies like job training and education?

What do you think?

WomenMatter is a place to discuss life issues with other women. We don’t want to wedge women apart, but rather bring them together to dialogue. To log onto one of our online forums, click here.

WomenMatter encourages women to educate themselves on the issues and then approach their representatives with ideas.

Even though the election is over, your voice is vital. Make sure your leaders know what’s important to you. To see how your representatives vote and to contact them, click here.

WomenMatter is dedicated to empowering women to participate in the political process. To do this we have invested in the most in-depth NONPARTISAN information, because we trust each woman to make up her own mind.

• We track nine issues every week and update this website several times a week.
• We launch after school GirlsMatter Clubs in middle and high schools to grow the next generation of politically aware women through a full curriculum and startup kit on girlsmatter.com.
• We do continuous research to make sure that we are meeting the needs of women across the country of all ages, races, incomes, preferences, and religions.
• We provide partnerships with nonpartisan organizations that provide services to women and advocate for them.

We offer all our services free of charge without memberships or subscriptions. To help us maintain this work - not just in election years but as a continuing part of women’s lives - please make a tax deductible donation, click here.

Update Posted on: 3/13/2005