WELFARE: Rising incomes in the 1990s cut the number of U.S. families eligible for government cash assistance. However, the number of participants fell even more sharply from 1995 to 2005, apparently due to restrictions imposed by welfare reform legislation in 1996, including work requirements and time limits. Increased participation by eligible families would decrease the rate of “extreme poverty” but would not lift many above the poverty line (Government Accountability Office). Also see a related hearing by the House Ways and Means Committee’s Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support.

Recently, she had a run-in with a photographer at an airport who reportedly called her a “bitch” to get a photo opp. “When that was happening to me, I realized this is how they get Kanye West or Sean Penn or somebody beating someone down and just snapping. I thought, This is a test for me, I have to maintain my elegance because all they’re gonna see is the pictures of me being upset.” (The photographer has since “nicely and kindly and wholeheartedly” apologized, in her words.) “I do a lot of performances and if something breaks or technically goes wrong, what am I gonna do, get mad and storm off? It’s about how you deal with the crisis. People respect you more for dealing with things in an elegant manner instead of having a fit.”