Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act

President William Clinton, on August 22, 1996, signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. The intent of this law was to transform the U.S. welfare system into one that provided government assistance in exchange for work. The plan contained specific work requirements and a performance bonus for states that moved welfare recipients into jobs. The bill offered benefits to children and families, including enforced child support, increased child care funding, and guaranteed health care coverage.

Legislators deemed the “from welfare to work” reforms necessary due to a perceived misuse and abuse of public funds in the previous welfare system, as well as a limited scope of assistance in some areas. Based on experimental evidence that new approaches could bring about improved attitudes and fiscal advantages, Congress and the president encouraged and supported these reforms. Teen mothers would continue their studies and the law would require federal employees to support their children financially. There would also be a crackdown on those who owed child support and avoided their responsibility by crossing state lines. The act encouraged welfare recipients to enter the workforce, assisted in vocational training as well as job searches, provided for child care funding, and guaranteed some level of family health care coverage. This act thus promoted personal responsibilities and established penalties to ensure achievement of its goals.

Teen pregnancy prevention was encouraged, and unmarried parents who were under age 18 were required to stay in school and live with an adult who was willing to take responsibility for the teen and her child. Under the 1996 law, after 2 years of assistance, the recipients were required to work—single-parent families a minimum of 20 hours a week the first year and dual-parent families at least 35 hours per week. The bill provided $14 billion in child care funding to assist more mothers in entering the workforce, a $3.5 billion increase over previous government child care assistance. With the passage of this law, families who received assistance were ineligible for income aid after 5 cumulative years. States were able to exempt up to 20 percent of their cases from the time limit and to use their own discretion in providing other forms of family assistance through either the Social Services Block Grant or state funds. The bill required states to maintain their own welfare spending at least at 80 percent of the 1994 levels. The welfare law allowed each state to take money that was previously used for welfare and create jobs, provide hiring incentives, or give income subsidies for employers who were willing to hire previous welfare recipients.

This act appears to have been a move in the right direction. However, not all components have been ideal and may require amendment in the future. No consensus exists about the success of this plan in improving the welfare system, and critics have been vocal in their opinions about disturbing trends.

On a positive note, welfare caseloads dropped dramatically, from a 1994 high of more than 14 million recipients to about 4.5 million recipients in 2006. A large number of welfare recipients did indeed join the workforce and develop a new work ethic. Estimates place between 40 percent and 70 percent of those who received welfare prior to 1996 as currently working, thus significantly decreasing the poverty level for children.

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