Robert Rector on Welfare Reform

"The Obama administration is waiving the federal requirement that ensures a portion of able-bodied TANF recipients must engage in work activities. It is replacing that requirement with a standard that shows that the pre-reform welfare program was successful and the post-reform program a failure. If that is not gutting welfare reform, it is difficult to imagine what would be."

Rector helped write the 1996 welfare law: "Working closely with members of Congress, I helped draft the work requirements in the 1996 law, and I raised the alarm on July 12, when the Obama administration issued a bureaucratic order allowing states to waive those requirements.

Bill Clinton vetoed the legislation twice before signing it the third time. He happily takes credit for the budget surpluses which began in 1998 and continued through FY 2001.