The Obama Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
released an official policy directive
rewriting the welfare reform law of 1996. The new policy guts the federal work
requirements that were the foundation of the reform law. The Obama directive
bludgeons the letter and intent of the actual reform legislation.
Obama
Administration Claim #1: We Didn't Gut Work Requirements
Ever since the 1996 law passed, Democratic leaders have attempted (unsuccessfully) to repeal welfare's work standards, blocking reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (TANF) and attempting to weaken the requirements. Unable to eliminate "workfare" legislatively, the Obama HHS claimed authority to grant waivers that allow states to get around the work requirements.
Ever since the 1996 law passed, Democratic leaders have attempted (unsuccessfully) to repeal welfare's work standards, blocking reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (TANF) and attempting to weaken the requirements. Unable to eliminate "workfare" legislatively, the Obama HHS claimed authority to grant waivers that allow states to get around the work requirements.
Humorously,
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius now asserts that the Administration abolished
the TANF work requirements to increase work.
HHS now claims that states receiving a waiver must "commit that their proposals will move at least 20 percent more people from welfare to work compared to the state's prior performance." But given the normal turnover rate in welfare programs, the easiest way to increase the number of people moving from "welfare to work" is to increase the number entering welfare in the first place.
HHS now claims that states receiving a waiver must "commit that their proposals will move at least 20 percent more people from welfare to work compared to the state's prior performance." But given the normal turnover rate in welfare programs, the easiest way to increase the number of people moving from "welfare to work" is to increase the number entering welfare in the first place.
Bogus
statistical ploys like these were the norm before the 1996 reform. The law
curtailed use of sham measures of success and established meaningful standards:
Participating in work activities meant actual work activities, not "bed
rest" or "reading" or doing one hour of job search per month;
reducing welfare dependence meant reducing caseloads. Now those standards are
gone.
Obama's
HHS claims authority to overhaul every aspect of the TANF work provisions
(contained in section 407), including "definitions of work activities and
engagement, specified limitations, verification procedures and the calculation
of participation rates." In other words, the whole work program.
Sebelius's HHS bureaucracy declared the existing TANF law a blank slate on
which it can design any policy it chooses.
Obama Administration Claim #2: Even If We Did, the Republicans Tried It, Too
Though the Obama Administration is claiming it is not trying to get around the work requirements, it is also claiming that a group of Republican governors tried to do the same thing in 2005. Clinton also said in his statement yesterday that "the recently announced waiver policy was originally requested" by Republican governors.
Obama Administration Claim #2: Even If We Did, the Republicans Tried It, Too
Though the Obama Administration is claiming it is not trying to get around the work requirements, it is also claiming that a group of Republican governors tried to do the same thing in 2005. Clinton also said in his statement yesterday that "the recently announced waiver policy was originally requested" by Republican governors.
Heritage
welfare expert Robert Rector addressed this claim back on July 19. As Rector explains:
But
[the governors'] letter makes no mention at all of waiving work requirements
under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. In fact, the
legislation promoted in the letter—the Personal Responsibility and Individual
Development for Everyone (PRIDE) Act—actually would have toughened the
federal work standards. It proposed raising the mandatory participation rates
imposed on states from 50 percent to 70 percent of the adult TANF caseload and
increasing the hours of required work activity.
The
governors' letter actually contradicts the Administration's main argument: If
the law has always permitted HHS to waive the work requirements, then why
didn't the governors just request waivers from then-President George W. Bush?
Why would legislation be needed?
Two
reasons: First, it has been clear for 15 years that the TANF law did not permit
HHS to waive the work requirements. Second, the Republican governors were not
seeking to waive the work requirements in the first place.
Obama's
Evolution from Welfare to Work and Back
President Obama had a convenient change of heart regarding welfare reform when it was time to run for President. In 1998, when he was an Illinois state senator, Obama said:
President Obama had a convenient change of heart regarding welfare reform when it was time to run for President. In 1998, when he was an Illinois state senator, Obama said:
I
was not a huge supporter of the federal plan that was signed in 1996. Having
said that, I do think that there is a potential political opportunity that
arose out of welfare reform. And that is to desegregate the welfare population—meaning
the undeserving poor, black folks in cities, from the working poor—deserving,
white, rural as well as suburban.
The same year, he reiterated that
"the 1996 legislation I did not entirely agree with and probably would
have voted against at the federal level."
But in 2008, when he was running for President, Obama said he had changed his mind about welfare reform: "I was much more concerned 10 years ago when President Clinton initially signed the bill that this could have disastrous results….It had—it worked better than, I think, a lot of people anticipated. And, you know, one of the things that I am absolutely convinced of is that we have to work as a centerpiece of any social policy."
One of his 2008 campaign ads touted "the Obama record: moved people from welfare to work" and promised that as President, he would "never forget the dignity that comes from work."
This evolution is unsurprising, considering the vast majority of Americans favor requiring welfare recipients to work.
President Obama has finally accomplished what Democrats have been trying to do for years. He has even gotten President Clinton to turn his back on one of the signature achievements of his Administration to give him political cover—which Clinton was quick to do. In 1996, Clinton had to compromise and allow the tough work requirements to get the legislation passed.
Both Presidents have now revealed their true feelings about welfare—and there's no denying it.
Related Articles: U.S. Welfare System Fails to Support Work
But in 2008, when he was running for President, Obama said he had changed his mind about welfare reform: "I was much more concerned 10 years ago when President Clinton initially signed the bill that this could have disastrous results….It had—it worked better than, I think, a lot of people anticipated. And, you know, one of the things that I am absolutely convinced of is that we have to work as a centerpiece of any social policy."
One of his 2008 campaign ads touted "the Obama record: moved people from welfare to work" and promised that as President, he would "never forget the dignity that comes from work."
This evolution is unsurprising, considering the vast majority of Americans favor requiring welfare recipients to work.
President Obama has finally accomplished what Democrats have been trying to do for years. He has even gotten President Clinton to turn his back on one of the signature achievements of his Administration to give him political cover—which Clinton was quick to do. In 1996, Clinton had to compromise and allow the tough work requirements to get the legislation passed.
Both Presidents have now revealed their true feelings about welfare—and there's no denying it.
Related Articles: U.S. Welfare System Fails to Support Work
