The Federal Treasury is on the verge of bailing out Wall Street with an infusion of $700 billion of taxpayer dollars. Bad decisions by many actors (banks and lenders, consumers, insurers and others) have contributed to the crisis, we are told, and now it is an emergency.

What a difference a policy area makes.

In our nation’s social welfare programs, such as the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, bad decisions are grounds for sanctions and a denial of assistance–not a helping hand or a cash infusion (Just imagine!). Certainly, our leaders have not treated poverty as an emergency or a reason for government action.

Other differences abound….

Corporate welfare: Corporate executives, mostly men, being bailed out.

Social welfare: Mostly low-income women with children, being given minimal assistance, and certainly not enough to help move them out of poverty.

Corporate welfare: Few restrictions on the money.

Social welfare: TANF beneficiaries face numerous restrictions, including having to sign a “personal responsibility” statement in some states (Something, personally, I’d like to see these corporate executive do).

Corporate welfare: It is a major “concession” not to cap compensation to the executives in the affected firms.

Social welfare: Under TANF, most states impose income and asset limits on eligibility. For assets, these limits are generally between $2,000 and $3,000. In some states, if your car is worth much more than this, you are not eligible. (States similarly limit eligibility for Food Stamps and Medicaid.)

So, how many of our corporate executives would be disqualified from the bailout if this were taken into account?

Corporate welfare: Few details about the accountability required under this bailout are available. Given the lobbying frenzy around the agreement, don’t expect much.

Social welfare: Significant oversight, including additional and burdensome requirements around supervision and documentation of program participation enacted in 2005 and codified in regulations earlier this year.

Corporate welfare: $700 billion.

Social welfare: $16 billion per year, which has not changed since 1996.

Just think what a $700 billion investment in poverty reduction could do. Bailouts to help low-income single mothers get job training to move them into careers with good pay and benefits, and a lifetime of economic independence. Bailouts to support access to quality child care so that single mothers could afford to leave their children in a safe environment while they go to work. Bailouts to support transportation vouchers that would get low-income parents to job training sites or worksites so that they can gain access to the careers and salaries that would eventually make them economically secure.

If only…

Gwen Rubinstein is a program officer at The Women’s Foundation.