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Bill Clinton: How We Ended Welfare, Together
NY Times ^ | 8/22/06

Posted on 08/22/2006 5:27:46 AM PDT by Mr. Brightside

Op-Ed Contributor

How We Ended Welfare, Together

By BILL CLINTON

Published: August 22, 2006

In my first State of the Union address, I promised to “end welfare as we know it”...

The last 10 years have shown that we did in fact end welfare as we knew it, creating a new beginning for millions of Americans.

In the past decade, welfare rolls have dropped substantially, from 12.2 million in 1996 to 4.5 million today... Sixty percent of mothers who left welfare found work... More than 20,000 businesses hired 1.1 million former welfare recipients...

The success of welfare reform was bolstered by other anti-poverty initiatives, including the doubling of the earned-income tax credit in 1993 for lower-income workers; the 1997 Balanced Budget Act, which included $3 billion to move long-term welfare recipients and low-income, noncustodial fathers into jobs; the Access to Jobs initiative, which helped communities create innovative transportation services to enable former welfare recipients and other low-income workers to get to their new jobs; and the welfare-to-work tax credit, which provided tax incentives to encourage businesses to hire long-term welfare recipients.

I also signed into law the toughest child-support enforcement in history, doubling collections; an increase in the minimum wage in 1997; a doubling of federal financing for child care, helping parents look after 1.5 million children in 1998; and a near doubling of financing for Head Start programs.

The results: child poverty dropped to 16.2 percent in 2000, the lowest rate since 1979, and in 2000, the percentage of Americans on welfare reached its lowest level in four decades. Overall, 100 times as many people moved out of poverty and into the middle class during our eight years as in the previous 12. Of course the booming economy helped, but the empowerment policies made a big difference.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: ahab; itsallaboutme; loungelizard
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To: bmwcyle
In the past decade, welfare rolls have dropped substantially, from 12.2 million in 1996 to 4.5 million today

I wonder if we are SPENDING less than half on welfare today. Something tells me we are not.

21 posted on 08/22/2006 5:40:57 AM PDT by Mr. Brightside
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To: Mr. Brightside

Been to New Orleans lately, Bill?


22 posted on 08/22/2006 5:42:00 AM PDT by mcg2000 (New Orleans: The city that declared Jihad against The Red Cross.)
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To: Mr. Brightside
Without even reading this op-ed excuse me if I

BARF!

23 posted on 08/22/2006 5:43:16 AM PDT by Rummyfan
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To: Mr. Brightside

what the heck is he talking about. Welfare is alive and well today. It has not ended. Johnson's legacy, one of the worst presidents of modern time besides Clinton and Carter, began his campaign on the war on poverty and it is a FAILURE. It is also a DEMOCRAT POLICY, and a SOCIALIST agenda.


24 posted on 08/22/2006 5:43:50 AM PDT by television is just wrong (our sympathies are misguided with illegal aliens...)
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To: satchmodog9
Opening sentence uses my and I......same old Slick!
25 posted on 08/22/2006 5:44:56 AM PDT by Rummyfan
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To: Mr. Brightside

Still re-working that stained dress legacy of his...


26 posted on 08/22/2006 5:46:47 AM PDT by theDentist (Qwerty ergo typo : I type, therefore I misspelll.)
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To: theDentist

"Still re-working that stained dress legacy of his..."

True. But he's also trying to give Hillary some room to manuever with the moderates.


27 posted on 08/22/2006 5:50:50 AM PDT by webstersII
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To: conservativecorner
We dragged you along kicking and screaming BUMP!

My thoughts exactly, word for word.

BUMP for the "We dragged you along kicking and screaming BUMP!"

28 posted on 08/22/2006 5:51:18 AM PDT by The_Victor (If all I want is a warm feeling, I should just wet my pants.)
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To: Mr. Brightside

Is this for Hillary's election sake? He shouldn't have bothered. It's the one good thing he did that still rankles the Dims to this day.


29 posted on 08/22/2006 5:51:30 AM PDT by CaptainK (...please make it stop. Shake a can of pennies at it.)
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To: satchmodog9
Funny how the RATs get away with always playing both sides of an issue.

Not true.

Look who controls the House, Senate, White House, and we are starting to make small inroads in the Judiciary.

They haven't gotten away with it.

30 posted on 08/22/2006 5:51:51 AM PDT by Balding_Eagle (God has blessed Republicans with political enemies who are going senile.)
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To: Mr. Brightside
Whats Clinton talking about? I remember his quote.Clinton said he "held his nose" when he signed this bill.
31 posted on 08/22/2006 5:52:04 AM PDT by 4yearlurker (12th district Freeper.)
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To: stocksthatgoup

We have a winner !


32 posted on 08/22/2006 5:55:31 AM PDT by stylin19a
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To: 4yearlurker

we have another winner !


33 posted on 08/22/2006 5:56:53 AM PDT by stylin19a
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To: RayStacy
That is exactly what happened!
34 posted on 08/22/2006 6:02:12 AM PDT by Obadiah
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To: stocksthatgoup

Needs repeating.



1 Veto
2 Veto
3 Veto

Oh my! Election coming soon!


35 posted on 08/22/2006 6:09:08 AM PDT by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: Mr. Brightside

I'm sorry, Mr. President, but who was that screaming at the DNC convention "Mend it, don't end it?"


36 posted on 08/22/2006 6:10:47 AM PDT by Yo-Yo (USAF, TAC, 12th AF, 366 TFW, 366 MG, 366 CRS, Mtn Home AFB, 1978-81)
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To: stocksthatgoup

"1 Veto
2 Veto
3 Veto
Oh my! Election coming soon!...."

It was when Dick Morris explained to the boy that he cant veto this thing 3 times that he finally signed it.


37 posted on 08/22/2006 6:25:59 AM PDT by Former MSM Viewer ("We will hunt the terrorists in every dark corner of the earth. We will be relentless." W 2001)
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To: Mr. Brightside

Funny....I don't see any mention of how he had to be dragged kicking and screaming into signing, or that the only reason he capitulated was because it was an election year.


38 posted on 08/22/2006 6:27:17 AM PDT by NRA1995 (Zarqawi died, liberals cried....)
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To: Mr. Brightside

The lying never stops.


39 posted on 08/22/2006 6:27:22 AM PDT by rightinthemiddle (Without the Media, the Left and Islamofacists are Nothing.)
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To: Mr. Brightside
How We Ended Welfare, Together

"We"?? Is he speaking french? As I recall, it was the GOP Congress that ended welfare over the objections of the bleeding heart liberals, Komrad Klinton included.

40 posted on 08/22/2006 6:30:20 AM PDT by The Sons of Liberty (Former SAC Trained Killer)
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