America is engaged in difficult and complex policy debates over the critical issues over welfare reform. There are conflicting claims and disagreements over the meaning of the facts and figures relating to welfare.
             Most everyone would agree that the welfare system has gone from a well-meaning program designed to sustain people who are unable to work and provide for their children, to a program that has become counterproductive to getting people back in the workforce as productive members of society.
             When President Clinton signed into law the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, the caution lights came on to warn the welfare train of changes in the track ahead. The new law shifts responsibility for the nation's poor families to the states, cutting federal costs by $54 billion over six years and changing programs that have been in existence for decades (Missouri Department of Social Services website).
             Peter Edelman wrote, " The Worst Thing Bill Clinton Has Done", an article on the new welfare reform laws. Edelman was a Clinton employee who resigned in protest over the new welfare law. He also helped Robert Kennedy with a speech in which he called the welfare system bankrupt.
             " I hate welfare. To be more precise, I hate the welfare system"(Edelman). Although Edelman opposes welfare, he claims that the bill that President Clinton signed is not welfare reform. "It does not promote work effectively, and it will hurt millions of poor children by the time it is fully implemented (Edelman).
             Stan Cave wrote an article on the future benefits of welfare reform. Cave sees pros and cons in the welfare reform laws. "Welfare is suppose to be a hand up, a program to get people through in times of need"(Cave). He feels some recipients tend to view welfare as a handout, not as an opportunity to return to self-sufficiency. "We have created a welfare class in America, a
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