Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act information
United States welfare reform law
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996
Long title
An Act To provide for reconciliation pursuant to section 201(a)(1) of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 1997
Acronyms (colloquial)
PRWORA
Enacted by
the 104th United States Congress
Citations
Public law
Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 104–193 (text) (PDF)
Statutes at Large
110 Stat. 2105
Codification
Titles amended
Title 42—The Public Health and Welfare
U.S.C. sections created
42 U.S.C. § 604a 42 U.S.C. § 608a
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 3734 by John Kasich (R–OH) on June 27, 1996
Committee consideration by House Budget
Passed the House on July 18, 1996 (256–170)
Passed the Senate on July 23, 1996 (74–24, in lieu of S. 1956)
Reported by the joint conference committee on July 30, 1996; agreed to by the House on July 31, 1996 (328–101) and by the Senate on August 1, 1996 (78–21)
Signed into law by President Bill Clinton on August 22, 1996
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) is a United States federal law passed by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. The bill implemented major changes to U.S. social welfare policy, replacing the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.
The law was a cornerstone of the Republican Party's "Contract with America", and also fulfilled Clinton's campaign promise to "end welfare as we know it". AFDC had come under increasing criticism in the 1980s, especially from conservatives who argued that welfare recipients were "trapped in a cycle of poverty". After the 1994 elections, the Republican-controlled Congress passed two major bills designed to reform welfare, but they were vetoed by Clinton. After negotiations between Clinton and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Congress passed PRWORA, and Clinton signed the bill into law on August 22, 1996.
PRWORA granted states greater latitude in administering social welfare programs, and implemented new requirements on welfare recipients, including a five-year lifetime limit on benefits. After the passage of the law, the number of individuals receiving federal welfare dramatically declined. The law was heralded as a "re-assertion of America's work ethic" by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, largely in response to the bill's workfare component.
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Congress passed and President Bill Clinton signed the PersonalResponsibilityandWorkOpportunityAct (42 U.S.C. § 666), which required that states adopt...
Clinton's presidency, Republicans won passage of the PersonalResponsibilityandWorkOpportunityAct, a bill which placed several new limits on those receiving...
particularly since the passage of the PersonalResponsibilityandWorkOpportunityAct. Questions regarding US responsibility have also been raised regarding...
" and the new Republican majorities passed conservative legislation such as the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the PersonalResponsibilityandWork Opportunity...
advocating for and signing the PersonalResponsibilityandWorkOpportunityAct, the State Children's Health Insurance Program and financial deregulation...
funds that were initially enacted with the PersonalResponsibilityandWorkOpportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA). PRWORA denied federal funding...
and the Economic OpportunityAct was passed. Commonly known as "the Great Society" 1996: Passed under Clinton, the "PersonalResponsibilityandWork Opportunity...
Clinton administration in protest of Clinton signing the PersonalResponsibilityandWorkOpportunityAct. According to Edelman, the 1996 welfare reform law...
through the PersonalResponsibilityandWorkOpportunityAct, which significantly reduced the amount of time individuals can stay on welfare and as a result...
President Bill Clinton and the Republican Congress passed the PersonalResponsibilityandWorkOpportunity Reconciliation Act (also known as welfare reform)...
promised to “end welfare as we have come to know it.” The PersonalResponsibilityandWorkOpportunityAct was crafted as a response to the perceived failings...
Modernization Actand the repeal of the Glass–Steagall Actand implementing cuts to the welfare state through passage of the PersonalResponsibilityandWork Opportunity...
campaign. Having voted against the PersonalResponsibilityandWorkOpportunityAct, better known as the "Welfare Reform Act," which, he said, would result...
Republicans, while claiming the major credit for them. The PersonalResponsibilityandWorkOpportunityAct (PRWORA) of 1996 established the Temporary Assistance...
became teenage mothers, and rates have fallen since then. In the United States, the PersonalResponsibilityandWorkOpportunityAct of 1996 included the...
campaign. Having voted against the PersonalResponsibilityandWorkOpportunityAct, better known as the "Welfare Reform Act," which, he said, would result...