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July 25, 2006 Writers and critics of the landmark 1996 welfare reform bill took part in an Urban Institute roundtable event with federal officials, state and local human service practitioners, researchers and analysts to mark the legislation's approaching 10th anniversary.
Overview of the discussionWASHINGTON, D.C., July 25, 2006—Writers and critics of the landmark 1996 welfare reform bill took part in an Urban Institute roundtable event on July 25 with federal officials, state and local human service practitioners, researchers, and analysts to mark the legislation's tenth anniversary. Mostly hailed by participants as a bipartisan achievement that shrank welfare rolls and put single mothers to work, welfare's transformation from an entitlement program to a block grant that imposed time limits on assistance also left many families with children in poverty. Experts offered views on how well work supports are aiding hard-pressed households, how such programs might be strengthened, and why many former welfare recipients aren't advancing in the workforce. Looking ahead, participants questioned whether the stricter work requirements imposed by the bill's reauthorization in February might constrain states and put more families at risk. Rep. Clay Shaw, the Florida Republican who chaired the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources that wrote the historic 1996 legislation, spoke of how it helped break the cycle of poverty, gave states great flexibility, and encouraged more two-parent families. Welfare reform was "a rescue program," he said, that underscored the strength of "the human spirit." Not so, countered Wendell Primus, the former official at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), who resigned in 1996 in opposition to President Clinton's decision to sign the welfare reform bill. Primus, now a senior policy adviser to House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California, echoed many at the roundtable by largely crediting a booming economy in the late 1990s and the expansion of the earned income tax credit with the single-parent exodus from welfare to work. Debates arose over some of the same issues that sparked controversy 10 years ago. Are states getting the flexibility and financing needed to enforce this ambitious social policy? Moving the first half of welfare recipients into the workforce was easy, according to Ray Scheppach, executive director of the National Governors Association. But faced with tougher work requirements and fewer dollars, Scheppach views the task ahead with skepticism. "Block grants were good for states in the short run," he said, "but bad in the long run." Both Ron Haskins, an author of the bill and now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Wade Horn, HHS assistant secretary for children and families, argued that states could be doing more with their federal dollars to bolster working families. Can government policy increase healthy marriages and reduce out-of-wedlock births? With more government money than ever going toward encouraging stronger unions between low-income parents, Horn argued that "doing nothing produces nothing" and that providing low-income couples with the same skills many wealthier couples possess is only fair. Other participants questioned whether marriage deserved such government focus. Many agreed that the next 10 years may be the bigger challenge since a slew of unanswered questions and concerns persist. Stuart Butler, a vice president at the Heritage Foundation, urged everyone to consider how to improve the incomes of those leaving welfare. He suggested the public education system as an untapped resource that could be better educating and preparing youth for a competitive workforce. Olivia Golden, an Urban Institute senior fellow and former HHS assistant secretary, said that work supports-especially state unemployment insurance-should be given more consideration. Many experts cited the array of state welfare experiments in the early 1990s as pioneering successful welfare reform. More such experimentation could show how to make work supports more effective, Golden said. Nearly everyone agreed that the real work of welfare reform will unfold in the coming years. As the roundtable's moderator, Los Angeles Times national economics correspondent Peter Gosselin, said at the start of the event, the participants are "history makers" invited to "look backward at what should be ahead." Roundtable participantsGreg Acs, principal research associate, Income and Benefits Policy Center, Urban Institute Gina Adams, senior research associate, Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population, Urban Institute Richard Bavier, senior policy analyst, U.S. Office of Management and Budget Gordon Berlin, president, MDRC; former executive deputy administrator, New York City's Human Resources Administration Helen Blank, director, leadership and public policy, National Women's Law Center Stuart Butler, vice president of domestic and economic policy studies, Heritage Foundation Al Collins, chief of staff, Anne Arundel (Md.) county executive; former director, Office of Family Assistance, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Sheldon Danziger, codirector, National Poverty Center, University of Michigan Olivia Golden, senior fellow, Urban Institute; former assistant secretary for children and families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Naomi Goldstein, director of planning, research, and evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Mark Greenberg, executive director, task force on poverty, Ctr. for American Progress Ron Haskins, senior fellow, Brookings Institution; former majority staff director, U.S. House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources Wade Horn, assistant secretary for children and families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Andrea Kane, senior director for policy and partnerships, National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy; nonresident fellow, Brookings Institution Pamela Loprest, principal research associate, Income and Benefits Policy Center, Urban Institute John Monahan, senior fellow, Center for the Study of Social Policy Robert Moffitt, Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Economics, Johns Hopkins University Beatriz "BB" Otero is founder and executive director of CentroNía in Washington, D.C. LaDonna Pavetti, senior fellow, Mathematica Policy Research Sharon Parrott, director, welfare reform and income support division, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Wendell Primus, office of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Jerry Regier, principal deputy assistant secretary, Office of Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Howard Rolston, visiting fellow, Brookings Institution; former director of planning, research, and evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Elaine Ryan, deputy executive director for policy and government affairs, American Public Human Services Association Ray Scheppach, executive director, National Governors' Association Margaret Simms, interim president, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Matthew Stagner, director, Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population, Urban Institute Sheri Steisel, federal affairs counsel and director of human services policy, National Conference of State Legislatures Jim Weill, president, Food Research and Action Center Marty Zaslow, vice president of research, Child Trends Sheila Zedlewski, director, Income and Benefits Policy Center, Urban Institute Related documentsTwo fact sheets reviewing welfare reform research conducted during the past decade are available from the Urban Institute. "A Decade of Welfare Reform: Facts and Figures" is an overview of several key aspects of welfare reform. "Government Work Supports and Low-Income Families: Facts and Figures" offers a more targeted look at work support programs. A report by the Urban Institute's Sheila Zedlewski and Pamela Loprest, "The Changing Role of Welfare in the Lives of Low-Income Families with Children," is forthcoming. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||