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  • Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

    States Expand Welfare Drug Testing

    Governor Sam Brownback (R–KS) signed a law last month that requires drug screening for Kansas recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). It joins Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Utah as states with laws requiring some form of substance screening for welfare recipients. A 2007 study by … More

    Work Is the Best Way out of Poverty, Most Americans Agree

    Most Americans believe “work is the best solution for poverty,” according to a recent Rasmussen Report. A full 80 percent of Americans agree with this statement (9 percent disagree and 11 percent are undecided). Using work to fight poverty was the driving force behind the welfare reforms of 1996. Temporary … More

    Wisconsin Welfare Reform Promotes Self-Sufficiency

    Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) says welfare dependence is no measure of success when it comes to helping the poor. “Sadly, there are some in our nation’s capital who measure success in government by how many are dependent on the government,” said the governor. “Our mindset in Wisconsin is a … More

    House Votes to Restore Welfare Work Requirements

    On March 13, the House voted to restore the work requirements that the Obama Administration attempted to gut from the 1996 welfare reform law. The Preserving Work Requirements for Welfare Programs Act of 2013 was introduced in late February by a group of conservatives to undo the Administration’s actions. The … More

    Cloakroom: Battle of the Budgets, Round 1

    House Cloakroom: March 11 – March 15 Analysis:  This week House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) will release his 2014 budget resolution for markup in committee. The Ryan budget is expected offer a path to balance in 10 years and include a full repeal of Obamacare as well as a … More

    Morning Bell: Welfare Reform Is Back

    Last summer, the Obama Administration gutted the successful 1996 welfare reform law by offering to waive its work requirements. Now the debate is back, as several Members of Congress are trying to restore the reforms that helped so many out of poverty. The work requirements were the heart and soul … More

    House Takes Steps to Make Welfare Work Again

    Members of Congress are taking action to confront last summer’s move by the Obama Administration to gut the 1996 welfare reform law of its work requirements. The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources held a hearing Thursday to investigate the Administration’s action to waive the enormously successful and … More

    Must-Read Research: Obama Gutting Welfare Reform, Setting Spending Records

    Welfare spending is at a staggering, all-time high. A new government report confirms that the U.S. now spends roughly $1 trillion a year on what has become a behemoth welfare system consisting of more than 80 federal programs. Robert Rector explains more in congressional testimony from earlier this year: “Examining … More

    Morning Bell: 5 Issues That Haven’t Come Up in the Debates

    Tonight’s presidential debate is the last one that will include questions on domestic policy. The previous presidential and vice presidential debates covered a host of issues, but there are key questions still to be answered. Heritage experts submitted five issues below—with questions—that it is important to discuss before the debate … More

    House Votes to Reverse Obama Administration’s Gutting of Welfare’s Work Requirements

    This afternoon, the House voted to restore the work requirements that the Obama Administration has attempted to gut from the 1996 welfare reform law. The breakdown: 250 Republicans voted for restoration and 164 Democrats voted against the resolution. The 1996 reform inserted work requirements into the largest federal cash assistance … More