Catherwood LibraryILR School

When the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act - otherwise known as welfare reform - was passed in 1996, its goals were to reduce the number of people on welfare by making government benefits “temporary” (5 years or less) in order to encourage people to seek work. Those who couldn’t find work, or who didn’t volunteer or get job training, would eventually be removed from welfare. While welfare reform succeeded in reducing the number of people on welfare from 13 million in 1995 to 3 million today, results are mixed in that many are still unemployed, still living under the poverty line, and are now faced with diminishing aid and benefits such as food stamps. A delayed tenet of welfare reform was to remove access to food stamps after three months if adults weren’t employed at least 20 hours of week; many states have chosen to implement this requirement this year as of April 1st, leaving many without food stamps. Welfare reform also changed the way states received federal assistance, with funding appropriated in large blocks without delineating the way it should be used. As a result, states may allocate the money towards college scholarships and foster care, instead of skills training and helping people with attaining and keeping jobs that would keep them above poverty level.