Welfare Reform
Rector is an expert on poverty issues who has influenced policy, testified before Congress, and written extensively on the subject.
Rector is considered one of the key architects of the 1996 federal welfare reform act, which marked a significant shift in American welfare policy. The bill attempted to emphasize using government assistance temporarily to recover economic independence, rather than depending on assistance indefinitely.
Rector has written frequently on the subjects of welfare and poverty, including the 1992 The Wall Street Journal article “America's Poverty Myth”, which asserted that the U.S. Census inaccurately measures poverty, and his 1995 book with William Lauber, America's Failed $5.4 Trillion War on Poverty, which criticized welfare laws in the U.S. for allegedly rewarding breakdowns in family values.
In 1995, The Wall Street Journal called Rector the "leading guru" behind the Republicans' position on welfare. In 2006, National Review editor Rich Lowry called Rector "the intellectual godfather" of welfare reform.
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