The 1996 reform of our welfare system led to a revolution in personal empowerment for low-income Americans. The old welfare system, known as Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), was a federal entitlement program fraught with waste and disincentives to work. It was replaced by Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), a block grant program that gives states the flexibility to create their own welfare-to-work systems to assist needy families in climbing the economic ladder.
The results of this revolution have been stunning. Since 1996:
-Welfare rolls have declined by 57 percent.
-Child support collections have nearly doubled.
-Nearly a million and a half fewer children live in poverty.
Statistics and trends such as these are certainly impressive, but the true indication of welfare reform's success can best be measured in human terms. Countless lives and families have been transformed. The reform of 1996 enabled millions to achieve self-sufficiency through personal responsibility and hard work.
TANF's success has been so impressive that some believe the job of reform is done, but it is not. Many families remain trapped in government dependency. By 2004, less than a third of the TANF adult caseload was fully meeting the requirement for work. During a typical month in that year, nearly 60 percent of able-bodied adults on the TANF caseload did not participate in any work or work preparation activities.
President Bush addressed what he called the "unfinished business" of welfare reform when he signed the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 into law in February. This new law goes far beyond merely reauthorizing TANF. It strongly encourages states to engage adult TANF recipients in productive work activities so that they may escape government dependency through work.
The new law also authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services to regulate how states define "work." The 1996 law that created TANF allowed states to get somewhat creative in this regard. An August 2005 report by the Government Accountability Office found that some states had listed in their definitions of federal work activities such things as bed rest, exercise, personal journaling and motivational reading. My Department has issued interim final regulations that bring additional clarity to how states may define "work."
The 1996 legislation brought back an important word that had been missing from discussions of social policy for too long: marriage. That legislation set national goals to strengthen the two-parent family and reduce out-of-wedlock births. It also granted the states freedom to use a portion of their TANF block grant to promote marriage.
Since 1996, our progress on this front has been modest. Out-of-wedlock births have declined slightly, but couples continue to have children outside the protective bonds of marriage at very high rates. This does not bode well for children.
In any discussion of marriage and public policy, it is important to recognize that some marriages fail for reasons that are difficult to control. As President Bush has said, "The hardest job in America is to be a single mom. ..." In these situations, many single parents make heroic efforts, and successfully raise great children.
As a whole though, children do best when they grow up in stable families with two continuously married parents. On average, they do better in school. They are less likely to use drugs or alcohol. They are less likely to be physically abused, less likely to suffer physical and emotional neglect. They are seven times less likely to live in poverty.
In 2001, President Bush launched his ambitious Healthy Marriage Initiative to strengthen marriage and the family. He has now furthered this effort by signing the Deficit Reduction Act, which redirects a small portion of TANF funds to help couples voluntarily access marriage education services so they can develop the skills necessary to sustain healthy marriages.
Without increasing federal spending, the new law makes $500 million available over the next five years to community- and faith-based organizations, as well as to federal, state, and local governments for healthy marriage projects. It also makes up to $250 million available over the same period for activities to promote responsible fatherhood.
These two bold steps, strengthening TANF work requirements and expanding the Healthy Marriage Initiative, are a continuation of the revolution that began ten years ago. They give millions of low-income Americans the opportunity to lead more responsible and productive lives. More importantly, they give our children hope for a better future.
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Michael O. Leavitt is Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
