Barbara Walters: Welfare should be a second chance, not a way of life. When Bill Clinton ran for president as a reformist Democrat, he promised an end to welfare. He ended the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program by putting strict time limits and work requirements on cash aid. But at the same time, you had a very large expansion of aid to low-income families who did work. The passage of the 1996 welfare bill helped shift the political dynamics of poverty.
The high poverty rate among children was long seen as an enduring fact of American life. But a recent analysis has shown that the number of young people growing up poor has fallen dramatically in the past few decades.
The reasons for the improvement are complicated, but they have their roots in a network of programs and support shaped by years of political conflict and compromise.
Guest: Jason DeParle, a senior writer at The New York Times and a frequent contributor to The New York Times Magazine.
Background reading:
- Child poverty in the United States has fallen 59 percent since 1993, a new analysis showed.
- Few states have experienced larger declines in child poverty than West Virginia. One family’s story illustrates the real-life impact that an expanded safety net has provided to millions across America.
For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.