[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book II)]
[August 22, 2000]
[Page 1673]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Statement on Welfare Reform
August 22, 2000

    On August 22, 1996, I signed landmark bipartisan welfare reform 
legislation, transforming our Nation's welfare system into one that 
requires work for time-limited assistance. Four years later we see 
strong evidence that this historic change is working: Welfare caseloads 
have been cut in half; a record proportion of people on welfare are 
working; and the businesses in the Welfare to Work Partnership alone 
have hired more than one million people off welfare.
    New data released today show that welfare rolls are just half of 
what they were 4 years ago, and the percentage of Americans on welfare 
is at the lowest level in 35 years. My administration will send a report 
to Congress today that shows all States have met the welfare reform 
law's overall work requirements in 1999. Moreover, individuals remaining 
on welfare are nearly 5 times more likely to be working than they were 
in 1992.
    I am pleased that since its launch at the White House in May 1997, 
the Welfare to Work Partnership has enlisted more than 20,000 businesses 
who have hired an estimated 1.1 million former welfare recipients. As 
many of these companies have learned, welfare recipients are productive 
workers who want a hand up, not a handout. With Vice President 
Gore's leadership, the Federal Government 
has also done its part, hiring nearly 50,000 former welfare recipients 
at a time when the Federal Government is the smallest it has been in 40 
years.
    In 4 short years, we have seen a new emphasis on work and 
responsibility, as welfare recipients themselves have risen to the 
challenge and made welfare what it was meant to be: a second chance, not 
a way of life. As we celebrate how far we've come, we must not forget 
that there is still more to do. Working together, we must build on our 
progress and help even more families become self-sufficient. That is why 
I am challenging the Welfare to Work Partnership to link even more 
welfare recipients, community-based organizations, and employers in 
communities around the Nation--helping more businesses find qualified 
workers and more welfare recipients and other new workers succeed in our 
booming economy. I urge State and local officials to use the resources 
and flexibility provided through welfare reform to invest in supports 
for both current recipients and low-income working families. And I call 
on Congress to join me in promoting work and responsibility by enacting 
my budget proposals to make work pay, encourage savings, promote 
responsible fatherhood, and expand access to child care, housing, 
transportation, and health care.