When Bill Clinton was still running for president, he promised to “end welfare as we know it”. This was not a promise to eradicate the social security system ushered in by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression, but to reform it. Clinton was responding to widespread concerns that many had grown too dependent on the welfare system, preferring the government to provide payments instead of trying to find employment for themselves. Both sides argued the need for reform, which Clinton provided near the end of his first term in office.

On this day, August 22, 1996, Bill Clinton signed into law the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, more commonly known as welfare reform. He fulfilled his campaign promised, and drastically altered the welfare system to encourage work among the recipients.

Both sides argued the need the for a reform. Democrats noted the “culture of poverty” and “cycle of poverty” that developed among individuals and communities receiving long term benefits, while republicans cited incidents of welfare fraud, when perfectly able-bodied recipients worked the system to their advantage — Ronald Reagan’s oft-repeated, though fictional “Welfare Queen” story became a rallying point.