The "G" in BIG stands for "guarantee". Welfare is in no way guaranteed, and state governments make recipients jump through dozens of annoying hoops as a strategy for "thinning out" the number of needy folks they have to support. It's rather cruel.

Go to any foodstamps office in a major city and check out the lines. It's like the Great Depression all over again inside those places.  

Source: I have worked at a foodstamps office