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February 26, 2002
Background
In 1996, a Republican Congress and a Democratic Administration came together to reach a
historic, bipartisan agreement to refo
rm the welfare system. This historic welfare reform has been one of the greatest public policy successes in decades:
Even with these notable successes, much remains to be done to improve the welfare system for those in need - and to help welfa
re recipients on the path to self-reliance and independence.
As part of the 1996 reforms, Congress ended the welfare entitlement under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) p
rogram, and replaced it with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, a $16.6 billion per year block grant
to states and territories. Under TANF, welfare recipients are required to work in exchange for time-limited benefits, and sta
tes enjoy significant flexibility in designing the eligibility criteria and benefit rules. Additionally, Congress provided bon
uses to states for high performance and for reducing non-marital births.
President Bush proposes to build on the success of the bipartisan 1996 reform law by making welfare even more focused on the w
ell-being of children and supportive of families. His plan will strengthen and improve the TANF program by maintaining the sa
me overall funding level ($16.6 billion per year) and basic structure established under the 1996 welfare reform law - while ma
king improvements in several key areas to encourage welfare recipients to work toward independence.
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