Reexamining Devolution (Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION The focus of this investigation will reexamine the concept of devolution which has become the new framework for administering federal welfare policy based on the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996. Welfare programs are now devolved to the state programs which are titled Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). Devolution became operative in Clinton's welfare policy reform which was then finally passed into law and public policy by the Republican Congress in 1996. Although Clinton had twice vetoed welfare reform bills prior to PRWORA, he and Congress finally agreed on the new welfare policy. Fundamentally, devolution attempts to pass down federal responsibilities to the states and counties. In doing this, the new TANF program replaced direct federal cash aid welfare "entitlements" through AFDC. Thus the newly implemented program: