    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
    [August 22, 1996]
    [Pages 1328-1330]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on Signing the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
    Reconciliation Act of 1996
    August 22, 1996

        Today, I have signed into law H.R. 3734, the ``Personal
    Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996.'' While
    far from perfect, this legislation provides an historic opportunity to
    end welfare as we know it and transform our broken welfare system by
    promoting the fundamental values of work, responsibility, and family.
        This Act honors my basic principles of real welfare reform. It
    requires work of welfare recipients, limits the time they can stay on
    welfare, and provides child care and health care to help them make the
    move from welfare to work. It demands personal responsibility, and puts
    in place tough child support enforcement measures. It promotes family
    and protects children.
        This bipartisan legislation is significantly better than the bills
    that I vetoed. The Congress has removed many of the worst provisions of
    the vetoed bills and has included many of the improvements that I
    sought. I am especially pleased that the Congress has preserved the
    guarantee of health care for the poor, the elderly, and the disabled.
        Most important, this Act is tough on work. Not only does it include
    firm but fair work

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    requirements, it provides $4 billion more in child care than the vetoed
    bills--so that parents can end their dependency on welfare and go to
    work--and maintains health and safety standards for day care providers.
    The bill also gives States positive incentives to move people into jobs
    and holds them accountable for maintaining spending on welfare reform.
    In addition, it gives States the ability to create subsidized jobs and
    to provide employers with incentives to hire people off welfare.
        The Act also does much more to protect children than the vetoed
    bills. It cuts spending on childhood disability programs less deeply and
    does not unwisely change the child protection programs. It maintains the
    national nutritional safety net, by eliminating the Food Stamp annual
    spending cap and the Food Stamp and School Lunch block grants that the
    vetoed bills contained. In addition, it preserves the Federal guarantee
    of health care for individuals who are currently eligible for Medicaid
    through the AFDC program or are in transition from welfare to work.
        Furthermore, this Act includes the tough personal responsibility and
    child support enforcement measures that I proposed 2 years ago. It
    requires minor mothers to live at home and stay in school as a condition
    of assistance. It cracks down on parents who fail to pay child support
    by garnishing their wages, suspending their driver's licenses, tracking
    them across State lines, and, if necessary, making them work off what
    they owe.
        For these reasons, I am proud to have signed this legislation. The
    current welfare system is fundamentally broken, and this may be our last
    best chance to set it straight. I am doing so, however, with strong
    objections to certain provisions, which I am determined to correct.
        First, while the Act preserves the national nutritional safety net,
    its cuts to the Food Stamp program are too deep. Among other things, the
    Act reinstates a maximum on the amount that can be deducted for shelter
    costs when determining a household's eligibility for Food Stamps. This
    provision will disproportionately affect low-income families with
    children and high housing costs.
        Second, I am deeply disappointed that this legislation would deny
    Federal assistance to legal immigrants and their children, and give
    States the option of doing the same. My Administration supports holding
    sponsors who bring immigrants into this country more responsible for
    their well-being. Legal immigrants and their children, however, should
    not be penalized if they become disabled and require medical assistance
    through no fault of their own. Neither should they be deprived of food
    stamp assistance without proper procedures or due regard for individual
    circumstances. Therefore, I will direct the Immigration and
    Naturalization Service to accelerate its unprecedented progress in
    removing all bureaucratic obstacles that stand in the way of citizenship
    for legal immigrants who are eligible. In addition, I will take any
    possible executive actions to avoid inaccurate or inequitable decisions
    to cut off food stamp benefits--for example, to a legal immigrant who
    has performed military service for this country or to one who has
    applied for and satisfied all the requirements of citizenship, but is
    awaiting governmental approval of his or her application.
        In addition to placing an undue hardship on affected individuals,
    denial of Federal assistance to legal immigrants will shift costs to
    States, localities, hospitals, and medical clinics that serve large
    immigrant populations. Furthermore, States electing to deny these
    individuals assistance could be faced with serious constitutional
    challenges and protracted legal battles.
        I have concerns about other provisions of this legislation as well.
    It fails to provide sufficient contingency funding for States that
    experience a serious economic downturn, and it fails to provide Food
    Stamp support to childless adults who want to work, but cannot find a
    job or are not given the opportunity to participate in a work program.
    In addition, we must work to ensure that States provide in-kind vouchers
    to children whose parents reach the 5-year Federal time limit without
    finding work.
        This Act gives States the responsibility that they have sought to
    reform the welfare system. This is a profound responsibility, and States
    must face it squarely. We will hold them accountable, insisting that
    they fulfill their duty to move people from welfare to work and to do
    right by our most vulnerable citizens, including children and battered
    women. I challenge each State to take advantage of its new flexibility
    to use money formerly available for welfare checks to encourage the
    private sector to provide jobs.
        The best antipoverty program is still a job. Combined with the newly
    increased minimum wage and the Earned Income Tax Credit--

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    which this legislation maintains--H.R. 3734 will make work pay for more
    Americans.
        I am determined to work with the Congress in a bipartisan effort to
    correct the provisions of this legislation that go too far and have
    nothing to do with welfare reform. But, on balance, this bill is a real
    step forward for our country, for our values, and for people on welfare.
    It should represent not simply the ending of a system that too often
    hurts those it is supposed to help, but the beginning of a new era in
    which welfare will become what it was meant to be: a second chance, not
    a way of life. It is now up to all of us--States and cities, the Federal
    Government, businesses and ordinary citizens--to work together to make
    the promise of this new day real.

                                                          William J. Clinton

    The White House,

    August 22, 1996.

    Note: H.R. 3734, approved August 22, was assigned Public Law No. 104-
    193.