Public Law 104–193
Personal Responsibility and Work
Opportunity Act
Welfare Reform Act
1996
Background
• Aid to Families with Dependent Children
• Proved to be ineffective.
• Drawing bipartisan criticism.
• Caseloads increased to unmanageable levels.
• Between 1936 and 1969, the number of families
receiving support under AFDC increased from
162,000 to 1,875,000.
• Federal funding lagged behind inflation.
• Benefits falling 47% after adjusting for
inflation.
Governor Tommy Thompson
Wisconsin (R)
• Instituted comprehensive
welfare reform at the state
level.
• Lobbied the federal
government to grant
states greater latitude for
implementing welfare
(*devolution).
• “Workfare”
• Recipients had to
work to receive
assistance.
Welfare Reform Act
• Introduced by Rep. E. Clay Shaw, Jr. (FL-R).
• The culmination of years of debate over AFDC.
• A cornerstone of the Republican Congress’
“Contract with America.”
• Ultimately fulfilled President Clinton’s 1992
campaign promise to “end welfare as we know
it.”
“A reassertion of America's work ethic.”
-U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families (TANF)
• Effectively replaced Aid to Families with
Dependent Children (AFDC).
• Granted states the ability to design their own
program (*block grant), provided basic federal
requirements are met:
• Ending welfare as an entitlement program.
• Requiring recipients to begin working after two years of
receiving benefits (workfare).
• Placing a lifetime limit of five years on benefits paid.
• Encourage “two-parent families” over “out-of-wedlock
births.”
• Enhancing enforcement of child support.
"The major goal of Public Law 104–193
[Welfare Reform Act] is to reduce the length of
welfare spells by attacking dependency while
simultaneously preserving the function of
welfare as a safety net for families
experiencing temporary financial problems.“
-House Ways and Means Committee
Consequence
• Welfare and poverty rates both declined
during the late-’90s.
• Critics argue that a reduction in the number of
welfare recipients was largely a result of
steady economic growth in the years following
the laws enactment.
• Others question the definition of “success”.
• Whether the number of caseloads is an accurate
measurement .
"The TANF program does not offer benefits
sufficient to lift recipients out of poverty, and
despite a strong economy, the majority of
families who have moved off the TANF rolls
have remained in poverty…Has welfare reform
created job opportunities for the poor? Has it
promoted wages that allow low-wage workers
to escape poverty? In both of these areas, the
economic story remains the same: we have
little evidence that reform has produced
achievements that warrant the label of
success.“
-Joe Soss, political scientist