The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) was part of the Welfare Reform Act of 1996, designed to bring about drastic alteration in the American welfare system and end the cycle of dependency that many believed the system had spawned. Responding to concerns that governmental aid to religious entities might violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment, PRWORA provided that states allocating federal welfare monies should treat religious groups providing services equally with purely secular groups. In this photo, President Bill Clinton signs his 1996 welfare reform package, including the PRWORA. (Image via Social Security Administration, public domain)
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) was part of the Welfare Reform Act of 1996, designed to bring about drastic alteration in the American welfare system and end the cycle of dependency that many believed the system had spawned. Responding to concerns that governmental aid to religious entities might violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment, PRWORA provided that states allocating federal welfare monies should treat religious groups providing services equally with purely secular groups.
States with welfare money should treat religious and secular groups equally
The law provided that no religious organization receiving such monies should be required either to change its internal governance or to “remove religious art, icons, scripture, or other symbols in order to be eligible to contract to provide assistance, or to accept certificates, vouchers, or other forms of disbursement.” The law is consistent with the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002), approving the use of vouchers for students who attend parochial schools. President George W. Bush continued to argue for the legitimacy of directing governmental aid through faith-based programs.
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The Protagonists and Ideas Behind the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996: The Enactment of a Conservative Welfare SystemSocial Justice
Vol. 28, No. 4 (86), In the Aftermath of Welfare "Reform" (Winter 2001)
, pp. 4-32 (29 pages)
Published By: Social Justice/Global Options
//www.jstor.org/stable/29768105
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Journal Information
Social Justice is a quarterly journal that was founded in 1974. It seeks to promote human dignity, equality, peace, and genuine security. Its early focus on crime, police repression, social control, and the penal system has expanded to encompass globalization, human and civil rights, border, citizenship, and immigration issues, environmental victims and health and safety concerns, social policies affecting welfare and education, ethnic and gender relations, and persistent global inequalities. The journal has framed its vision of social justice with an understanding of the international dimensions of power, inequality, and injustice. It presents divergent viewpoints in a readable fashion for concerned citizens with an interest in current affairs, while including ample notes and references to satisfy the academic reader.
Publisher Information
Social Justice is a project of Global Options, a tax-exempt educational and research organization. Crime and Social Justice (the journal’s original title) merged with Issues in Criminology in 1976.
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