In 1996, Congress passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). PRWORA ended welfare as an entitlement, instead creating a system of reciprocal obligation, requiring welfare recipients to be engaged in work activities and time-limiting the receipt of benefits.
Empowerment Accounts: 21st Century Safety-Net Reform
Frankie Johnson, a college-educated single mother from Washington, D.C., moved to Atlanta to distance herself and daughter from an abusive husband. Without a job or place to live, she sought government assistance for childcare and transitional housing. While she waited for this assistance, she was offered a job paying $70,000. She turned it down. Why?...