In 1969 President Nixon introduced an NIT called the Family Assis- tance Plan (FAP) that would have replaced the AFDC program. Although it enjoyed widespread initial support, the FAP was subsequently attacked by liberals as being insufficiently generous and by conservatives as being overly expensive and having insufficiently stringent work requirements. Russell Long, then chair of the Senate Finance Committee, opposed the FAP and, as an alternative, designed a proposal targeted at those willing to work. His 1972 proposal included a large public service jobs component and a “work bonus” equal to 10 percent of wages subject to Social Secu- rity taxation. The FAP was defeated in 1972, but.
