The Hill News

Fifteen years ago this month, President Clinton signed legislation that fundamentally transformed the nation's welfare system. Implemented in the midst of the roaring 90s, the new program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), was predicated on the conviction that work was preferable to welfare, that welfare should be temporary, and that jobs were available if people would only look for them. Now with unemployment rates at levels unimaginable even five years ago, the context for reform has changed, posing profound questions for Congress as it revisits the law that "changed welfare as we knew it" when it expires next month.

In 1996, work requirements, time limits, and restrictions on welfare recipients' participation in education and training were all designed to reinforce the message that work was the best route out of poverty. At the same time, the Earned Income Tax Credit was greatly expanded, offering supplements to earnings of up to $5,700 per yea! r for many low-wage workers with children. Rewarding and supporting employment in this way fit with an ethos of reciprocity and responsibility valued by American society.

Read more...