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"Welfare reform in America worked, despite the dire warnings six years ago by advocacy groups who opposed our efforts to break the cycle of dependency," Secretary Thompson said. "With President Bush's ambitious and bold proposal, we are taking the next step in welfare reform - one that will help families work toward self-sufficiency.

"Under the old AFDC program, everyone was in poverty. What's worse, they had no way out," Secretary Thompson said. "Welfare reform is helping millions of people climb out of poverty. Now, we want to go the next step and help them climb the job ladder by creating more opportunities for education and job training."

That's why the centerpiece of President Bush's proposal is work, coupled with new education, training and substance abuse allowances that will help families climb the career ladder and develop the skills necessary to do so.

The President's proposal:

• Requires a 40-hour work week by welfare recipients (up from the current 30 hours). At the same time, however, the President wants to give states more flexibility to count education, job training or substance abuse treatment as work. Therefore, the proposal would require that only 24 hours be spent in the workplace.
• Further, three months out of every 24 months could be used for substance abuse treatment.
• Expands the federal government's waiver authority in major welfare programs (food stamps, housing, workforce programs, adult education) so states will have the flexibility needed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of these programs.
• Maintains the current levels of the TANF block grant at $16.5 billion a year through 2007, giving states the resources they need to build stronger programs and help families achieve self-sufficiency by climbing the career ladder.

The $16.5 billion funding will allow states to assist more families than when the program was originally passed in 1996 due to welfare caseload decreases of 56 percent nationwide.

Secretary Thompson called on advocacy groups seeking to make reducing poverty the main priority of welfare reform to endorse the President's proposal, saying "The only way to escape poverty is through work."

Welfare reform has been successful in combating poverty in the United States. Since 1996, when the welfare reform bill was signed into law:

• The percentage of American families with incomes below the federal poverty level dropped from 13.7 percent to 11.3 percent.
• The percentage of children living in poverty fell from 20.5 percent to 16.2 percent.
• The rate of poverty among African-American children in 2000 was the lowest on record, and the poverty rate among Hispanic children had its largest four-year decrease in history between 1996 and 2000.

"Right now, we have the opportunity to build upon the obvious successes of 1996 and take that very important next step," Secretary Thompson said. "There is bipartisan support for this next step because we all know that work builds dignity, self reliance and good habits for life."

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