Welfare Reform:

Definition: A movement change by the federal government's social welfare policy by shifting some of the responsibility to the states and cutting benefits.

Clinton and the congressional Republicans cooperated to reform the welfare system. In 1996, a bill was proposed to place limits on how long people could receive benefits. It also put an end to a 61-year federal guarantee of welfare, and instead gave states "block grants"---set amounts of federal money they could spend on welfare or for other social concerns. Although liberal Democrats feared the effects of eliminating the federal safety net for the poor, the president backed the bill. Over the next few years, states moved millions of people from welfare to jobs. Because of the strong economy, the transition was more successful than some had been predicting.