US Welfare rules

Ten years after Bill Clinton introduced real welfare reform in the US they are renewing funding rules. Based on the 2005 caseloads federal funding to states now requires 50 percent of welfare recipients to be engaged in 30 hours of meaningful activity - playing the pokies or getting pissed doesn't qualify.

This comes after the sixty percent reduction in welfare rolls already achieved.

Liberals are naturally critical. Conservatives, however, say the new rules will push welfare recipients into private jobs. “What we learned the first time is that poor people are a lot more resilient and capable than the left presumes,” says Jason Turner, a Heritage Foundation visiting fellow who consults on welfare with about 25 states.