WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney's presidential campaign has released a new TV advertisement falsely claiming President Barack Obama has ended work requirements for Americans receiving welfare benefits.
"Since 1996, welfare recipients have been required to work. This bipartisan reform successfully reduced welfare rolls," the ad says. "On July 12th, President Obama quietly ended the work requirement, gutting welfare reform."
In July, the Obama administration invited states, which administer the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, to apply for waivers from some federal requirements if the states have ideas for projects that would increase employment among welfare recipients. It did not announce an end to work requirements. The administration has not announced that it has issued any waivers.
The new ad is the third attacking the Obama administration's waiver announcement. It highlights a Richmond Times-Dispatch editorial that criticized the policy. "One of the most respected newspapers in America called it 'Nuts,'" the voiceover says.
Many other respected newspapers, along with an author of the 1996 welfare reform law, have called the Romney camp's welfare ads brazenly false. The Times-Dispatch itself noted on Monday that Romney's welfare ads have been debunked many times.
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