Seventeen years ago, on August 22, 1996, President Clinton signed into law the most sweeping changes ever made to our nation’s safety net. The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program was the centerpiece of these reforms, replacing the New Deal-era Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. TANF had a new mandate to help those in need by supporting and rewarding work and assisting low-income families in becoming self-sufficient. In the wake of the work-based 1996 welfare reforms, work and earnings in households headed by single mothers increased, child poverty in female-headed households has fallen, and welfare caseloads have declined remarkably.
Commenting on the success of welfare reform and the need to apply a similar approach across the programs designed to assist low-income families, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) stated, “Clearly, the best way out of poverty is a job, and welfare reform has been successful because it underscored how reform can both foster job creation and ensure welfare is a pathway to a better life. The 1996 welfare reform law is a model for reforming other safety-net programs so that we use our resources effectively to truly help those in need – not from a hand out, but from a hand up.”Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee stated, “The landmark 1996 bipartisan welfare reform law successfully moved millions of Americans from welfare to work. Seventeen years later, it’s time for Congress to fully examine this law to ensure it fits today’s realities. Water-downed work requirements coupled with lax oversight and misguided government spending is pushing our safety-net programs in the wrong direction. It’s time we take stock of these programs – what’s working and what isn’t – to ensure that the backbone of government assistance is work, not just a blank paycheck.”
Even 17 years after these reforms, many of our nation’s other safety-net programs have yet to be reformed. In fact, most low-income benefit programs have few expectations of those receiving benefits, offer little help to support and reward work, and continue to spend more each year without showing that they’re really helping those in need. The Ways and Means Committee has held a number of hearings this year focused on our nation’s safety net and how it can be improved to help low-income families and individuals move up the economic ladder. Below are key selections from testimony at these hearings, along with related information highlighting how our current system isn’t working. It’s time to undertake another round of welfare reforms to ensure those in need are receiving real help to get back on their feet and move up the economic ladder.
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