SUTHERLAND INSTITUTE STATEMENT FOR THE RECORD
Nic Dunn
Vice President of Strategy and Senior Fellow
Sutherland Institute
Salt Lake City, Utah
Welfare Reform at 30: Restoring the Promise of Work and Personal Responsibility in Federal Welfare Programs
House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Work and Welfare
September 1, 2026
Chairman LaHood, Ranking Member Davis, and distinguished members of the Subcommittee on Work and Welfare, thank you for holding this timely hearing, “Welfare Reform at 30: Restoring the Promise of Work and Personal Responsibility in Federal Welfare Programs.” I serve as Vice President of Strategy and Senior Fellow at Sutherland Institute, an independent policy research institute where I lead our Work & Opportunity Initiative. Thank you for the opportunity to submit this statement for the record regarding the promise of work and personal responsibility.
I. Introduction
Thirty years ago, the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) established a historic precedent. By replacing Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Congress fundamentally restructured federal cash welfare around work, personal responsibility, and temporary stabilization.
Now, we must recognize both the successes of these reforms and the need to extend these same principles to the broader social welfare system. The fragmented nature of the federal social safety net is well documented: more than 80 means-tested programs administered across multiple federal and state agencies, with nearly $1.2 trillion in federal spending and at least an estimated $341 billion in state spending in fiscal year 2025.
Though the system is well-intentioned, this bureaucratic network can inadvertently create perverse incentives and obstacles to work, making the transition to independence harder for low-income families. To fulfill the full promise of welfare reform, Congress must address two pressing challenges: the widespread disincentive caused by “benefit cliffs” and the administrative burden for low-income families who must navigate multiple government agencies or programs. The solution to these challenges lies in the already proven model of welfare reform: unleashing state-led innovation that prioritizes pro-work, pro-family reforms that are temporary, targeted, and fiscally responsible.
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