Bill Clinton Calls Mitt Romney Welfare Reform Ad 'Especially Disappointing'

Bill Clinton Blasts 'Misleading' Romney Ad

WASHINGTON -- Bill Clinton is unhappy with a new TV ad that uses his likeness in claiming President Barack Obama has fatally undermined the welfare reform legislation Clinton signed in 1996.

The ad, released Tuesday morning by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, shows Clinton signing welfare reform into law. Then it says Obama "quietly announced a plan to gut welfare reform by dropping work requirements."

"Governor Romney released an ad today alleging that the Obama administration had weakened the work requirements of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act," Clinton said in a statement Tuesday evening. "That is not true."

The 1996 reform ended welfare as a federal entitlement and transformed it into a program run by states within certain federal rules. Last month, the Obama administration announced it would allow states to apply for waivers from some of the rules if states had better ways of getting welfare recipients into jobs.

While the Romney campaign has suggested the Obama administration made its welfare decision to foster a Democratic "culture of dependency" by making it easier for people to stay on welfare, Clinton pointed out that two Republican-controlled states had requested the waivers.

"The recently announced waiver policy was originally requested by the Republican governors of Utah and Nevada to achieve more flexibility in designing programs more likely to work in this challenging environment," Clinton said.

Clinton added that Republican governors, including Mitt Romney, sought a similar policy in 2005 (a charge the Romney campaign has denied).

"The Romney ad is especially disappointing because, as governor of Massachusetts, he requested changes in the welfare reform laws that could have eliminated time limits altogether," Clinton said. "We need a bipartisan consensus to continue to help people move from welfare to work even during these hard times, not more misleading campaign ads."

Here's the full statement from Clinton:

Statement by President Bill Clinton on Governor Mitt Romney's New Television Advertisement

New York, NY -- Governor Romney released an ad today alleging that the Obama administration had weakened the work requirements of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act. That is not true.

The act emerged after years of experiments at the state level, including my work as Governor of Arkansas beginning in 1980. When I became President, I granted waivers from the old law to 44 states to implement welfare to work strategies before welfare reform passed.

After the law was enacted, every state was required to design a plan to move people into the workforce, along with more funds to help pay for training, childcare and transportation. As a result, millions of people moved from welfare to work.

The recently announced waiver policy was originally requested by the Republican governors of Utah and Nevada to achieve more flexibility in designing programs more likely to work in this challenging environment. The Administration has taken important steps to ensure that the work requirement is retained and that waivers will be granted only if a state can demonstrate that more people will be moved into work under its new approach. The welfare time limits, another important feature of the 1996 act, will not be waived.

The Romney ad is especially disappointing because, as governor of Massachusetts, he requested changes in the welfare reform laws that could have eliminated time limits altogether. We need a bipartisan consensus to continue to help people move from welfare to work even during these hard times, not more misleading campaign ads.

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