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.
Read more about this topic: Robert Rector
Famous quotes containing the words welfare and/or reform:
“I have great faith in ‘ordinary parents.’ Who has a child’s welfare more at heart than his ordinary parent? It’s been my experience that when parents are given the skills to be more helpful, not only are they able to use these skills, but they infuse them with a warmth and a style that is uniquely their own.”
—Haim Ginott (20th century)
“And let Reform her columns roll.
With thunder peal, and lightening flash.
We’ll preach deliverance to the soul.
‘Mid proud Oppression’s waning crash.”
—Ignis, U.S. women’s magazine contributor. The Genius of Liberty, pp. 9-10 (November 1853)