There are several types of needy on welfare:
The elderly, Those with muscular dystrophy, etc
The unemployed with skills
The unemployed who chose not to obtain skills
Those with life style choices of tobacco, vaping, alcohol, drugs, STDs, HIV.
I suggest this last group of bad lifestyle choices should be cut off from welfare... from Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, Sec8, LIHEAP, etc. They have the freedom to choose stupidity. But they should not have the freedom to steal our tax money.
BAD LIFESTYLE CHOICES is a big expense on the welfare barbell.
There is no public consensus on the other groups of needy. Proposing to cut them off will not win elections and thus will not happen.
But without cutting them off, there are things we can do on the edges.
FRAUD WASTE ABUSE in welfare is big. Fraud exists not just with the Somalis and Chinese Providers, but also with the white collar Deloitte IT Vendor that makes much of the other fraud possible.
Programs are designed to keep people on welfare and penalize them if they try to get off welfare. Programs should incentivize people to get off welfare.
I think welfare, on a national scale, has been an epic disaster. Welfare should be done locally if possible. States should be the ‘largest’ welfare regulators, not Federal. Welfare costs and taxes are to great, people move away from the states.
You can do California, NY, Illinois, New Mexico, and Minnesota, but you have to do it all with state taxes.