Saying “work should always be encouraged as a condition for receiving welfare,” acting Assistant Director for the Department of Health and Human Services Steven Wagner announced a plan to implement such requirements.

In 2012, former President Barack Obama issued a directive allowing states to apply for waivers to work requirements embedded in a welfare reform law enacted by Congress in 1996.

“Under the waiver plan,” Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation explained at the time, “states will no longer be required to comply with the work participation requirements in the TANF law.”

By adding work participation requirements for TANF, states can focus on ensuring welfare is #RewardingWork! Thanks @potus! — Governor Walker (@GovWalker) August 30, 2017

Now, those requirements and the original intent of the welfare law are being restored under President Trump.

Via the Washington Times:

The Trump administration moved Wednesday to reimpose work requirements for Americans on welfare, revoking an Obama-era policy that had urged states to apply for waivers exempting the poor from having to show they were either getting job training or looking for work. Requiring work was a key part of the 1996 welfare reform law enacted by a GOP-led Congress and signed by then-President Bill Clinton, and Mr. Trump’s move restores the law as written. “The waiver option offered by the Obama administration is being replaced today by an expectation that work should always be encouraged as a condition for receiving welfare,” said Steven Wagner, the Health and Human Services Department’s acting assistant secretary for children and families.

More work and fewer handouts for social welfare recipients – something the left will clearly view as being cruel and inhumane to the poor. Liberals will gripe, but they’ll be wrong. This new requirement isn’t just economically beneficial, it also restores the self-confidence of those on welfare. As the old saying goes, the best welfare program is a job. Being self-sufficient is key to living a fulfilling life.

President Trump understands this. Barack Obama, who never held a real job outside the university, didn’t.

It’s only right to show proof of training or job searching if you are receiving welfare. Life isn’t free handouts. https://t.co/S3SOj0XkB9 — Red Nation Rising (@RedNationRising) August 30, 2017

“We’re going to measure our commitment by the number of people we get off of those programs and help them get back in charge of their own lives again,” White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said while discussing welfare reform in May.

Do you support work requirements for welfare recipients? Share your thoughts below!