From The Heritage Foundation, I'm Ernest Istook. As Washington considers budget cuts, let's look at an area…
In this week's Heritage in Focus podcast, Robert Rector discusses his new report on welfare, "Air Conditioning, Cable TV, and an Xbox: What is Poverty in the United States Today?" David Weinberger hosts. To get regular updates on Heritage in Focus podcasts, visit our RSS feed or subscribe…
Robert Rector comments on welfare reform. …
President Clinton signed landmark welfare-reform legislation in 1996, he said it would "end welfare as we know it." Wrong verb. More accurately, it changed welfare as we know it. That's not to say the reform wasn't a success. It was. Caseloads shrunk by more than 60 percent, 2.8 million families…
Robert Rector comments on the recent poverty report. …
To hear Washington politicians tell it, welfare reform is something they’ve already checked off their “to-do” list. Been there done that back in the ’90s, veteran members of Congress boast.So why would lawmakers even think about accepting the Obama administration’s plans…
THE ISSUE: Despite spending almost $16 trillion since the War on Poverty began in 1964, welfare programs have failed to reduce the causes of poverty, and instead have hurt many of the people they were intended to help. Poverty in…
My name is Robert Rector. I am a Senior Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation. The views I express in this testimony are my own, and should not be construed as representing any official position of The Heritage Foundation. This hearing is to examine proposals to expand spending on school…
A Path to National Bankruptcy Welfare on the Rise: The growth of welfare spending is…
Fourteen years ago, an energized Republican Congress voted to reform a vital part of the nation's fast-growing welfare system. President Clinton signed the bill into law, promising that the measure would "end welfare as we know it." But what began as a promising era of reform has…
Summary The intention of Welfare programs is to benefit low income Americans, especially children. Yet the evidence indicates that children and parents are actively harmed rather than helped by welfare.Nearly all Welfare aid for children goes to single parent households. But current research indicates that both Welfare dependence and single…
Abstract: The growth of welfare spending is unsustainable and will drive the United States into bankruptcy if allowed to continue. President Barack Obama’s fiscal year 2011 budget request would increase total welfare spending to $953 billion—a 42 percent…
Introduction The public is often told that the current welfare system does not promote long-term dependence. This is untrue. The 4.7 million families currently receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) have already spent, on average, six-and-a-half years on welfare. When…
A major public policy success, welfare reform in the mid-1990s led to a dramatic reduction in welfare dependency and child poverty. This successful reform, however is now in jeopardy: Little-noted provisions in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate stimulus bills actually abolish this historic reform. In addition, the stimulus bills will add nearly…
During the past three years, national caseloads in the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program have fallen by 37 percent. Welfare rolls in the TANF program (formerly called Aid to Families with Dependent Children, or AFDC) dropped from 4.73 million families in June 1995 to 2.98 million in June 1998.…
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) replaced the failed social program Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) with a block grant program, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). The reform legislation had three goals: 1) to reduce welfare dependence and increase employment; 2) to reduce child poverty; and 3) to…
Ten years ago, President Bill Clinton signed landmark welfare reform legislation into law. While previous attempts at reform resulted in only cosmetic changes, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 has had a meaningful and lasting impact on the federal welfare regime. PRWORA ended the entitlement status…
Introduction The Stand for Children rally, held in Washington on June 1, called attention to the plight of the nation's children. However, the unstated, underlying goal was to defend the continuing growth of the welfare system and implicitly to criticize those in Congress who have sought to reform it. Thus, while the Stand for Children event…
Statement of Robert Rector Senior Research Fellow, Welfare and Family Issues Domestic Policy Studies The Heritage Foundation …
As many states face budget shortfalls, several states are cutting their welfare programs during the trimming process. California is contemplating cutting its entire welfare/cash assistance program, while Arizona and Rhode Island have already passed budget cuts to their programs.[1] Although the elimination of a state Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)…
The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 requires states to allow eligible persons to register to vote at various government locations, including public assistance offices. Since the initial reporting period (1995-1996), the number of persons registering to vote at public assistance offices has declined. This trend has led some to speculate that the states are…
After years of languishing in a limbo of bureaucratic inertia, the original momentum of the tremendously successful 1996 welfare reform has now been revived. With last week's passage of the budget reconciliation act, states will once again be held responsible for reducing welfare dependency and moving able-bodied recipients…
The 1996 welfare reform legislation made remarkable headway in helping welfare dependents to move toward self-sufficiency. It dramatically reduced the caseload of dependents, reduced child poverty, and increased employment among single mothers. Yet, as a result of lax enforcement and efforts to undermine the principles and goals of reform, the full potential of this legislation…
The welfare reform legislation of 1996 took a dramatic step forward in reforming the system by introducing the notion of reciprocal obligation rather than one-way handouts of welfare benefits. Yet today, after seven years, reform in many states has been severely limited by a failure to institute reasonable sanctions for non-compliance with work…
Despite all the talk of “austerity,” little has been done to stem the tide of the United States’ ever growing debt. The...…
“Provide for common defense” is a core constitutional obligation of the federal government. Yet entitlement spending is...…
Food-stamp fraud and the government’s failed attempts to stop it were the focus of a House Oversight and Government...…
Proving they are serious about mitigating their citizens’ dependence on government welfare programs, conservative...…
Fifteen years ago, Congress voted to “end welfare as we know it.” As a result, the Temporary Assistance for Needy...…
In this week’s Heritage in Focus, researcher Rachel Sheffield discusses her new report on poverty in America. PODCAST:...…
Catching you up on clips, commentary and news of the day. Sign up for the daily email update from Scribe. Evict Fannie...…
Welfare spending is projected to skyrocket over the next 10 years, costing taxpayers $10.3 trillion and driving the...…
Which American politician said the following? "The lessons of history, confirmed by the evidence immediately before me,...…
The 112th Congress is out of the gate, and so is its mantra of getting government spending under control. But there’s...…
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