When the Republican-controlled Congress promoted welfare reform as one of its top priorities in 1995, opponents accused them of being unsympathetic to the plight of impoverished Americans and insisted the proposed policies would end up harming true reforms.
Thomas R. Carper (D), then-Governor of Delaware and currently a U.S. Senator, fought hard against the bill. “The [Republican-support reform bill in Congress] will undercut my own efforts to reform the welfare system in Delaware,” said Carper.
Despite their vociferous objections, Carper and his compatriots, nearly all of whom were Democrats, have been proven wrong.
Since the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) was signed into law in 1996, welfare rolls have dropped across the United States by roughly 9 million, a decline of 73 percent. Few—possibly no other—pieces of legislation have had such a meaningful and lasting impact as PRWORA.
The effects of PRWORA have been significant, but some states have done a better job of taking advantage of welfare reform than others. In 2008, The Heartland Institute conducted extensive research on welfare reform practices among the states and published its findings in its welfare reform report card. An updated version of the report card was recently published by Heartland on March 19.
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