Bill Clinton and The New York Lies: A Perfect Match

How We Ended Welfare, Together

August 22, 2006
New York Times Op-Ed Contributor
By BILL CLINTON

TEN years ago today I signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. By then I had long been committed to welfare reform. As a governor, I oversaw a workfare experiment in Arkansas in 1980 and represented the National Governors Association in working with Congress and the Reagan administration to draft the welfare reform bill enacted in 1988.

Yet when I ran for president in 1992, our system still was not working for the taxpayers or for those it was intended to help. In my first State of the Union address, I promised to “end welfare as we know it,” to make welfare a second chance, not a way of life, exactly the change most welfare recipients wanted it to be.

Most Democrats and Republicans wanted to pass welfare legislation shifting the emphasis from dependence to empowerment. Because I had already given 45 states waivers to institute their own reform plans, we had a good idea of what would work. Still, there were philosophical gaps to bridge. The Republicans wanted to require able-bodied people to work, but were opposed to continuing the federal guarantees of food and medical care to their children and to spending enough on education, training, transportation and child care to enable people to go to work in lower-wage jobs without hurting their children.

On Aug. 22, 1996, after vetoing two earlier versions, I signed welfare reform into law. At the time, I was widely criticized by liberals who thought the work requirements too harsh and conservatives who thought the work incentives too generous. Three members of my administration ultimately resigned in protest. Thankfully, a majority of both Democrats and Republicans voted for the bill because they shouldn’t be satisfied with a system that had led to intergenerational dependency.

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. At the same time, caseloads declined by 54 percent. Sixty percent of mothers who left welfare found work, far surpassing predictions of experts. Through the Welfare to Work Partnership, which my administration started to speed the transition to employment, more than 20,000 businesses hired 1.1 million former welfare recipients. Welfare reform has proved a great success, and I am grateful to the Democrats and Republicans who had the courage to work together to take bold action.

Do you ever read an article and feel like the RCA dog? Well this one has my head on its side for sure. The hubris of the clown is just frightening. President Bubba vetoed welfare reform 3 times. He fought against the idea tooth and nail (just as Hillary instructed) until it became time for re-election, then suddenly he was on-board. There was no "bi-partisanship" in this achievement, it was the direct result of the Republican victory in 1994, and had this bill had "bi-partisan" support, they would have over-ridden Billy-boy's veto at least one of those three times.

I should not be surprised by this considering Clinton's uninterrupted history of lying to the public. Why shouldn't we expect him to lie about this in an attempt to attack the Republicans. Someone with the morals of an alley-cat and the brains to match (with apologies to all alley-cats) shouldn't be expected to do anything else.

The most disturbing thing about this is that the Bushes have allowed themselves to be seduced by this perverted, incompetent, boor. It doesn't speak well for their own intellect.

Man Democrats really know how to pick Presidents; Jimmah Cahtah, the most incompetent President in history and Bill Clinton the trashiest lout to ever hold the office of President.

Full Story: Bill Clinton: Trailer Trash Will Out

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