As of 2012, we had 79 different means-tested (welfare) programs, with total budget of $927 BILLION. They are deliberately spread out over lots of departments so the total is not very visible without digging.
By consolidating ALL those programs into ONE department, with one set of bureaucrats administering them, you could probably get rid of thousands of federal employees. Maybe tens of thousands. Then take a look at why we need 79 different programs.
I've read reports indicating that a woman on welfare who participated in every program she qualified for, would have to land a job paying $25/hour to replace the income from the benefits.
By cutting out fraud and waste, we could easily cut that $927B in half.
As far as I know this is totally correct. We need a dept of benefits where everything is under one roof. I have no doubt it would save billions.