Summary
Like Bill Clinton in recent days, the liberal Sen. John Kerry has spent the past few years bragging about his support for the historic 1996 welfare-reform bill. But neither is likely to admit that welfare reform, which has proved to be one of the most successful social-policy legislative acts in U.S. history, comprised a central plank in Rep. Newt Gingrich's 1994 "Contract With America."
Welfare reform ultimately became law in August 1996, less than three months before Messrs. Clinton and Kerry faced the voters. At the time, a vast majority of Americans had become thoroughly disgusted with the self-destructive welfare policy that Democratic liberalism had embraced for decades, even as its direct consequences of social catastrophe were clear for all to see. The fact that real welfare reform had finally become law within months of the 1996 election was hardly coincidental. Mr. Kerry, who had spent years fighting real reform, strongly supported Mr. Clinton when he vetoed two solid, Republican-initiated welfare-reform plans in late 1995 and early 1996. Because their Republican opponents and voters had rightly understood their opposition to be little more than liberal obstructionism, the issue was causing Messrs. Clinton and Kerry grief in their 1996 campaigns for re-election.See the full content of this document
Extract
Kerry and Welfare Reform
Indeed, Mr. Kerry revealed his aggressive hostility to welfare reform in 1988. Then-Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole introduced a "workfare" amendment. Th...
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