Welfare reform — the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act — was the most sweeping reform signed into law during the Newt Gingrich era as House speaker. The landmark bill transformed welfare from entitlement to temporary safety net. Instead of welfare being available forever to any individual who met qualifying criteria, it was transformed to a time-limited assistance program in which individuals had to also demonstrate their efforts to get to work.

Democrats insisted during debate on the issue that the reform would push millions into poverty and then-Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota called the work requirements “extremist.”