Part 1: About Welfare to Work

Welfare to Work is a catchall for a collection of legislation reforms, programs and services that help people leave or avoid the welfare rolls and become self-sufficient, through childcare, job-training and employment assistance.

President Clinton got the ball rolling when he signed the historic Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, popularly known as the Welfare Reform Bill or Law. It repealed the 60-year-old Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program and replaced it with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. The Administration for Children and Families administers TANF along with several other Federal programs, in partnership with state, local and tribal governmental agencies.

The new law changed the goal of welfare from income maintenance to employment. It was originally designed to help welfare recipients land government jobs, but Clinton also urged private-sector businesses, nonprofit organizations and religious groups across the Nation to take the extra steps to train and employ people in need.

President Bush has also placed welfare reform on his agenda. He is further encouraging or forcing recipients off of welfare, depending on how you look at it, by increasing the work requirements. In his "Welfare Reform and Job Training" speech on February 27, 2002, the President said, "...the system ought to insist upon work, but encourage work by making sure people have got the skills necessary to work, or the help necessary to make them a responsible person in the workplace."

Not exactly the most articulate way to say it, but he got the point across. The days of passively or illegally collecting welfare courtesy of tax payers are fading rapidly, while assistance is becoming more-readily available for those who want to get off of welfare and become more self-sufficient.

In short, Bush's plan

• Helps more welfare recipients achieve independence through work
• Protects children and strengthens families
• Empowers states to seek new and innovative solutions to help welfare recipients achieve independence
• Provides compassionate food assistance to legal immigrants in need

Next page > Welfare to Work Programs > Page 1 • 2

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