Emergency Relief Appropriations Act

The Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 was passed on April 8, 1935, as a part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal. It was a large public works program that included the Works Progress Administration (WPA), Public Works Administration (PWA), the National Youth Administration, the Resettlement Administration, the Rural Electrification Administration, and other assistance programs. These programs were called the "second New Deal". The programs gave Americans work, for which the government would pay them. The goal was to help unemployment, pull the country out of the Great Depression, and prevent another depression in the future. This was the first and largest system of public-assistance relief programs in American history, and it led to the largest accumulation of national debt.

Before 1935, many programs focused on direct aid and "the dole". Franklin Delano Roosevelt did not like providing welfare to able workers as it demoralized the unemployed and created dependency on the government, and even the unemployed preferred work relief. He was also concerned about "future problems of unemployment and unprotected old age" and believed that "we have to get it started, or it will never start". At the beginning of 1935, 11.3 million Americans were unemployed, which was nearly 22% of the civilian labor force.

In January 1935, Roosevelt announced his plans to alter the current relief programs.

The Federal Government must and shall quit this business of relief.

I am not willing that the vitality of our people be further sapped by the giving of cash, of market baskets, of a few hours of weekly work cutting grass, raking leaves or picking up papers in public parks. We must preserve not only the bodies of the unemployed from destruction but also their self-respect, their self-reliance and courage and determination.

On April 8, 1935, Roosevelt introduced the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act, which only gave direct aid to people who were unable to work, such as the elderly and the disabled. Despite the word "emergency", this act was created to address a long-term problem.

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