Reforming welfare: The next policy debates

The author summarizes the debate over welfare reform that preceded the passage of the Personal Responsibility & Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA). In general, liberals focused on eradicating poverty, arguing that the well-being of welfare recipients should be the top priority. Meanwhile, conservatives were more concerned with welfare dependency & how to move recipients off the welfare rolls. Nevertheless, the two sides found enough common ground to fashion a compromise on welfare reform. Thus far, efforts to evaluate PRWORA's effectiveness have raised more questions than they have answered. It is simply too soon to draw any definitive conclusions about PRWORA's impact, but the early research indicates that a significant number of former welfare recipients will become permanent members of the working poor. If that happens, the ideological fault line between liberals & conservatives will reemerge in future debates over welfare reform. A. Funderburg