About Welfare Reform

In the summer of 1996, Congress passed and the President signed the "Personal  Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996." radically  transforming the nation's welfare system. Here, we link to sites that permit you to keep track of the ongoing implementation of welfare reform in the states and the continuing national discussion of the issue. we also provide an online copy of the bill, congressional debate surrounding it, and some of its legislative  history.

The Institute for the Study of Civic Values is playing an  important role in the implementation of welfare reform in Philadelphia.

 First, we have built a coalition called "JOIN" that brings together neighborhood, adult literacy, child care, and human service  organizations to fight for public service jobs, education and training, reverse  commuting, and quality child care in responding to welfare reform.

Check out what Jobs and Opportunity to Improve  Neighborhoods (JOIN) is doing and see if a similar coalition is needed in  your community.

ISCV has also organized a Neighborhood Work Experience Program in  Philadelphia--what is now called  PhillyCorps--that offers hard-to-employ welfare recipients with jobs in community organizations to gain the experience needed to enter the  workforce.

 Dr Jo Anne Schneider--the first Director of the ISCV  program--elaborates on this strategy in a paper that has circulated widely among welfare reform practioners around the country.

• Making Workfare a Success, Jo Anne Schneider

In 2002, Congress  must vote to reauthorize the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity  Reconciliation Act of 1996. For all the attention paid to the sharp drop in welfare caseloads over the past five years, there remain thousands of women and  children who still must receive cash assistance under TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) in order to survive. The original bill set a five-year limit on this assistance. By the end of 2001, families will start reaching this  limit-and losing their support. The real trouble that welfare 'reform' will cause has yet to begin.

 As we enter into a national debate over what to do next, the online resources that follow can provide an invaluable source of information and support.

Welfare Reform: Ongoing Implementation and Debate

The passage  of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act sets the stage for  ongoing reconstruction of welfare systems on a state-by-state basis. The debate over these issues will continue as well. Here, we offer access to sites that enable you to monitor this process.

Analyzing Poverty and Welfare

• US Census  Official Poverty Statistics
• Institute for Research on  Poverty: University of Wisconsin

Tracking Welfare Reform

• Welfare Information  Network
• Project  VoteSmart Welfare, Poverty, and Homelessness Resources
• Current Welfare  Caseloads by State/1993-1998
• Welfare Time Limits  by State
• DHHS Welfare Reform  Page
• State  Studies of Welfare Reform

Commentary on Welfare Reform Implementation

• "Welfare as  We Might Know it," Mary Jo Bane, American Prospect, Jan.-Feb.1997
• Electronic Policy  Network:Section on Poliverty, Income and Wealth
• "Center for Law and  Social Policy: Welfare and Work Division: Policy Analyst Position" by Mark  Greenberg
• Creating a Workbased System Under TANF, Center for Law and Social Policy
• Workfare in  Westchester County
• Welfare Seekers  Outnumber Jobs They Might Fill (NY Times, Aug. 25th,1996)
• Success  Difficult to Achieve in Welfare-to-Work Plans [NY Times, Sept. 1st, 1996]
• Rio Grande Valley Immigrants Worry About Welfare Law [NY Times, Sept. 4th, 1996]

Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of  1996

For those interested in the legislative background of welfare  reform, we provide a copy of the Personal Responsibility Act, the Children's  Defense Fund and Urban Institute Analyses of the bill and the issues, speeches  for and against it in the Congressional debate, President Clinton's stated rationale for signing it, an American Prospect article by David T. Ellwood--who  worked on welfare reform for the Clinton administration--on what happened to  their initial proposals in the process, and the perspective of Robert Rector of  the Heritage Foundation, the conservative who helped Congressional Republicans draft the Welfare Reform Act of 1996.

• Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (full text)
• Children's Defense Fund Summary of Welfare Act
• Speeches,  Articles Supporting Welfare Reform Act
• Speeches,  Articles Opposing Welfare Reform Act
• President  Clinton's Rationale for Signing Welfare Reform Act
• "Welfare Reform as I Knew It:", David T. Ellwood
• Heritage Foundation on Welfare Reform(conservative perspective)

Welfare Reform: Legislative History, 1994-1996

Personal Responsibility Act

Even though President Clinton  promised to "end welfare as we know it" in his 1992 Presidential campaign, the national debate over welfare reform did not take shape until 1994, when the original "Personal Responsibility Act" was introduced in the House of Representatives as part of the Republican "Contract With America."

Personal Responsibility Act

The Senate bill was a modified version of a bill introduced by Senator Robert Dole (R-Kansas) which proposed to end welfare as an outright entitlement  and is aimed at giving states "increased flexibility" to:

`(1) provide assistance to needy families with minor children;

`(2) provide job preparation and opportunities for such families; and

`(3) prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies.

The Personal Responsiblity Act Debate

The debate over the  Personal Responsibility Act took place in Congress and around the country for  more than a year.

These were the opening statements made by supporters of the Bill in the  House of Representatives:

Republican Speeches Defending Personal Responsibility Act

Many representatives offered strong criticism of the Personal  Responsibility Act in the course of the debate. Among the most forceful was a  series of speeches by opponents of the Bill addressing the "causes of  poverty."

Democratic Congressional Criticism of Personal Responsibility Act

The People Speak: Welfare Reform and the General Welfare

What is your own view of welfare reform? How can it "promote general welfare?" Is it  fair to cut off benefits to welfare recipients when there are no jobs available  for them? If we create public service jobs for all current welfare recipients, would it be fair to force welfare recipients to take them?

Here is what others who have visited this page had to say about welfare  during the first two years of the new policies:

The People Speak:  Welfare Reform

Send your own views on welfare reform now that we approach the first five  years of the program. We will develop a new "peoples' speak" page and include them:

Tell Us Your Views on  Welfare Reform

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