Welfare Reform: A Look Back

by Kerby Anderson

House Majority Leader Dick Armey had a little fun the other day. I guess you can file this under the category: "I told you so." He took the time to dig up some of the doom and gloom comments made back in 1996 when Congress passed its landmark legislation dealing with welfare reform.

For example, Marian Wright Edelman (president of the Children's Defense Fund) dismissed the 1996 welfare reform bill as an "outrage that will hurt and impoverish million of American children." She went on to predict that it will "leave a moral blot on [Bill Clinton's] presidency and on our nation that will never be forgotten."

Well, the impact was much different than the predictions. "There are 2.3 million fewer children living in poverty today," according to Mr. Armey. And the moral blot on President Clinton's presidency has more to do with the events leading up to his impeachment.

Here are a few of the other predictions during the 1996 debate on welfare reform:

* Patricia Ireland (National Organization for Women) warned that the bill "places 12.8 million people on welfare at risk of sinking further into poverty and homelessness."

* The Urban Institute projected the bill would push 2.6 million people into poverty and cause 8 million families with children to lose income.

* Peter Edelman (assistant secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services) resigned his post to protest President Clinton signing the bill and claimed the bill would lead to "more malnutrition and more crime, increased infant mortality, and increased drug and alcohol abuse and abuse against children and women."

So what has happened since the passage of the welfare reform bill? Here are a few statistics from Mr. Armey:

* There are 4.2 million fewer people living in poverty today.

* The poverty rate of single mothers is at its lowest point in U.S. history.

* Employment of single mothers has nearly doubled and employment of mothers
without a high school diploma has increased by 60 percent.

* The share of children living in single-mother families has fallen, with no correlated increase in abuse against women and children.

These numbers provide two lessons. The first lesson is that welfare reform, when done correctly, works and can reduce poverty. And the second lesson is: Don't always believe the doom and gloom predictions of so-called experts who resist change to the status quo.

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