A top policy priority of the GOP should be sweeping reforms to our broken and fraud-ridden welfare system. This should be done in the spirit of 1996.

Thirty years ago this month, a Republican Congress led by Newt Gingrich got Democratic President Bill Clinton to agree to the most consequential social welfare legislation in American history: the welfare reform bill that Clinton signed into law (after two vetoes).

Work became a requirement for receiving key federal benefits and funds were block-granted to the states to handle implementation and incentivize states to lower costs.

The bill was a policy tour-de-force. The rate of poverty for African-American children reached record laws. Welfare offices were transformed into job placement centers and it became clear that many welfare recipients really wanted to acquire the habits and skills that could make them independent. The results were stunning. In 1995, over 4.4 million adults collected welfare checks. By 2024, that number had fallen to 570,000 – roughly an 80% decline!

But two programs that weren’t reined in were Medicaid and food stamps – which combined became the new welfare state behemoths.

Gingrich insists that welfare reform should go “all the way, revisiting every federal assistance program” and put work at the heart of receiving any taxpayer assistance for nondisabled recipients.

Thirty years after Clinton announced that he would “end welfare as we know it,” it’s time for the next revolution in reducing poverty by making sure as many people as possible have a productive job.