Reply #12: the welfare reform bill on 1996 was much needed legislation and has worked well

[Hamlette]

I was hired as legal counsel to our welfare office when welfare reform passed. I thought "this will be another failed social experiment on the backs of the poor" (I'd worked as a public defender, at legal services and as a workers' comp and civil rights attorney before being hired at the welfare office.)

I was shocked to find the VERY liberal professionals at the office were all in favor of welfare reform. It was neither mean spirited or awful. Helping the poor is my job, and in many ways my life. Welfare reform, with the provisions Bill insisted on (expanded child care and medicaid) was a good idea and has worked.