Romney Puts False Welfare Attack At Center Of Campaign

Mitt Romney loves the ’90s, apparently — he is making President Bill Clinton’s 1996 welfare reform bill the centerpiece of his campaign this week. But his accusations that President Obama is trying to “gut” the program by waiving its work requirements don’t jibe with the administration’s actual work guidelines. They also sidestep the fact that Romney himself supported such changes — he was just one of the Republicans who lent similar requests bipartisan support.

In a speech in Illinois Tuesday, Romney praised Clinton and Republicans for saying “they did not want a culture of dependency to grow in our country, but instead wanted people to have the blessings of work.” By contrast, he said, “President Obama, in just the last few days, has tried to reverse that accomplishment, by taking the work requirement out of welfare. That is wrong, if I’m president I’ll put work back in welfare.”

His speech came on the heels of a new campaign ad asserting that “Under Obama’s plan, you wouldn’t have to work and wouldn’t have to train for a job — they just send you your welfare check.”

White House press secretary Jay Carney called Romney’s charges “categorically false” and “blatantly dishonest” in his Tuesday briefing.