Is It Time to Stop Saying 'the Safety Net'?

Governing: For decades, politicians, the media and the public have used a simple phrase to describe government programs that help people afford necessities like food, housing and health care: “the safety net.” Now, three national groups that represent public agencies and nonprofits that administer those benefit programs say it’s time to retire the phrase.

"For a lot of people, 'safety net' can feel like that deeper end of the system that is more costly and that people stay on for a long period of time. That's really not the case," says Tracy Wareing Evans, president and CEO of the American Public Human Services Association, which stopped using the term several years ago.

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