Work Over Welfare : The Inside Story of the 1996 Welfare Reform Law

Work over Welfare tells the inside story of the legislation that ended "welfare as we know it." As a key staffer on the House Ways and Means Committee, author Ron Haskins was one of the architects of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996. In this landmark book, he vividly portrays the political battles that produced the most dramatic overhaul of the welfare system since its creation as part of the New Deal. Haskins starts his story in the early 1990s, as a small group of Republicans lays the groundwork for welfare reform by developing innovative policies to encourage work and fight illegitimacy. These ideas, which included such controversial provisions as mandatory work requirements and time limits for welfare recipients, later became part of the Republicans' Contract with America and were ultimately passed into law. But their success was hardly foreordained. Haskins brings to life the often bitter House and Senate debates the Republican proposals provoked, as well as the backroom negotiations that kept welfare reform alive through two presidential vetoes. In the process, he illuminates both the personalities and the processes that were crucial to the ultimate passage of the 1996 bill. He also analyzes the changes it has wrought on the social and political landscape over the past decade. In Work over Welfare , Haskins has provided the most authoritative account of welfare reform to date. Anyone with an interest in social welfare or politics in general will learn a great deal from this insightful and revealing book. Cover......Page 1 Title Page......Page 4 Contents......Page 8 Preface......Page 10 1. Building the American Welfare State......Page 16 2. Laying the Groundwork......Page 35 3. House Republicans United behind Radical Reforms......Page 52 4. The Contract with America......Page 74 5. The House Initiates the Revolution......Page 97 6. The Battle in the House, PART I: Hearings......Page 121 7. The Battle in the House, Part II: Markups......Page 150 8. The Battle in the House, Part III: The Floor......Page 180 9. The Senate Joins the Revolution......Page 209 10. Budget Issues Trump Welfare Reform......Page 242 11. Clinton Vetoes Welfare Reform, Again......Page 269 12. The Governors Revive the Revolution......Page 283 13. The Revolution Threatened......Page 303 14. Triumph: Clinton Signs......Page 329 15. Ten Years Later: The Triumph of Work......Page 347 Appendix: The Welfare Reform Law That Reshaped American Social Policy......Page 379 Notes......Page 392 Index......Page 444 "Work over Welfare presents the inside story of the legislation that ended "welfare as we know it" in America. As a key staffer on the House Ways an Means Committee, Ron Haskins was one of the principal architects of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996. Here, he vividly recounts the political battles and policy debates that produced the most dramatic overhaul of welfare since its creation as part of the New Deal."--Jacket Ron Haskins. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 377-428) And Index.