Answer:
B.) Reduced.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Reagan administration is sometimes thought to have reversed the growth of the welfare state by eliminating or shrinking welfare programs at all levels of government and by removing new re-distributional initiatives from the national agenda. This assault on the welfare state was motivated at least in part by philosophical considerations. Leaving aside questions of cost and efficacy, the new administration aimed to confine welfare payments to the “deserving poor” (the aged, children, the permanently disabled, and others who could not be expected to enter the work force) in order to reduce the distorting effects of welfare both in labor markets and on the moral character of recipients. In practice, the administration sought to reduce payments to those with relatively high incomes by tightening eligibility standards and by reducing benefit levels on various programs (Palmer and Sawhill 1982).