As Obama seeks to cut the work requirement from welfare, a look back to what the Clintons said about welfare reform.

Bill Clinton On Signing Welfare To Work: “The New Bill Restores America’s Basic Bargain Of Providing Opportunity And Demanding, In Return, Responsibility.” CLINTON: “The new bill restores America’s basic bargain of providing opportunity and demanding, in return, responsibility. It provides $14 billion for child care, $4 billion more than the present law does. It is good because without the assurance of child care it’s all but impossible for a mother with young children to go to work. It requires States to maintain their own spending on welfare reform and gives them powerful performance incentives to place more people on welfare in jobs. It gives States the capacity to create jobs by taking money now used for welfare checks and giving it to employers as subsidies as incentives to hire people.” (Bill Clinton, Remarks On Signing The Personal Responsibility And Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act Of 1996 And An Exchange With Reporters, Washington, D.C., 8/22/96)

Clinton: “This Bill Will Help People To Go To Work So They Can Stop Drawing A Welfare Check And Start Drawing A Paycheck.”  (Bill Clinton, Remarks On Signing The Personal Responsibility And Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act Of 1996 And An Exchange With Reporters, Washington, D.C., 8/22/96)

Clinton: “It Is Now Clearly Better To Go To Work Than To Stay On Welfare—Clearly Better.” (Bill Clinton, Remarks On Signing The Personal Responsibility And Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act Of 1996 And An Exchange With Reporters, Washington, D.C., 8/22/96)

Hillary Clinton: “By The Time Bill And I Left The White House, Welfare Rolls Had Dropped 60 Percent From 14.1 Million To 5.8 Million, And Millions Of Parents Had Gone To Work.” “By the time Bill and I left the White house, welfare rolls had dropped 60 percent from 14.1 million to 5.8 million, and millions of parents had gone to work. States had supported part-time and low-wage work by continuing to provide medical benefits and food stamps for these workers. By January 2001, child poverty had decreased by more than 25 percent and was at its lowest rate since 1979.” (Hillary Clinton, Living History, 2003, p. 370)