thefilmarchive.org July 31, 1996 The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) is a United States federal law considered to be a fundamental shift in both the method and goal of federal cash assistance to the poor. The bill added a workforce development component to welfare legislation, encouraging employment among the poor. The bill was a cornerstone of the Republican Contract with America and was introduced by Rep. E. Clay Shaw, Jr. (R-FL-22) who believed welfare was partly responsible for bringing immigrants to the United States. Bill Clinton signed PRWORA into law on August 22, 1996, fulfilling his 1992 campaign promise to “end welfare as we have come to know it.” PRWORA instituted Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). which became effective July 1, 1997. TANF replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program, which had been in effect since 1935 and supplanted the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training program (JOBS) of 1988. The law was heralded as a “reassertion of America’s work ethic” by the US Chamber of Commerce, largely in response to the bill’s workfare component. TANF was reauthorized in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. A central pledge of Clinton’s campaign was to reform the welfare system, adding changes such as work requirements for recipients. However, by 1994, the Clinton Administration appeared to be more concerned with universal health care, and no details or a plan had emerged on …
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Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam signed into law a bill that requires drug tests from certain applicants for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, otherwise known as TANF. Although the bill is now law, it allows the state to write the rules on how to determine whether an applicant should be drug tested, a measure applicants would need to pay for whether or not they’re found positive for drug use. After speaking at a Memorial Day ceremony outside Capitol Hill May 24, 2012, Haslam told reporters the state needs to find balance in trying to keep welfare recipients accountable. For more, go to www.tnreport.com.