Giuliani Campaign Press Release - Rudy Makes ¢ents Day Four: Mayor Giuliani Led The Nation In Welfare Reform

"I came into office, there [were] 1.1 million people on welfare. When I left office, there were 640,000 fewer people on welfare. We had changed it completely. We didn't change the numbers alone, we changed the culture. In fact, we changed the culture so much we changed the name of the welfare office. One day I went down to the welfare office. I took off the sign that said 'Welfare Office,' and I put up a sign that said 'Job Center,' because we had changed the culture. When you walked into a welfare office, the people there learned that the new culture was to find a job for you, not just put you on welfare. And it transformed the city."

– Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Remarks On Commitment To Fiscal Discipline, Des Moines, IA, 6/20/07

Newt Gingrich Called Giuliani An "Absolute Revolutionary" On Welfare Reform. "[O]ur moral critique — if anything, I feel, in retrospect, I was not bold enough in Washington, DC. Our moral critique of the welfare state is going to accelerate, and the place it's happening is at the state and local governments. I mean, Giuliani, in his real reform of welfare, is in fact, behaving as an absolute revolutionary." (Newt Gingrich, Remarks At Progress And Freedom Foundation Conference, Washington, DC, 1/22/96)

While Washington Was Held Back By Endless Discussion, Giuliani "Raced Ahead" To Create Nation's Most Successful Welfare-To-Work Program. "The Giuliani administration, which created the nation's largest and most successful workfare program among single adults in the Home Relief program, is now extending the work requirement to recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children i.e., single mothers. The program continues the city's ambitious efforts at reform, one based on action. While Washington and Albany talk endlessly … Mayor Giuliani has raced ahead by going back to basics: work." (Editorial, "The Four-Letter Fix For Welfare," Daily News, 3/23/96)

In 1996, Giuliani Said Federal Government Had Not Accomplished Anything Regarding Welfare Reform So He Did It Himself. GIULIANI: "[W]e dealt both with the state and the federal government at first to try to accomplish welfare reform. They haven't really accomplished it yet. So what we decided to do is do it ourselves." ( CNN's "Evans and Novak," 7/6/96)

Giuliani Cut Over 640,000 People From City Welfare Rolls To The Lowest Number Since 1966. (City Of New York Human Resources Administration, January 1999 HRA/DSS Fact Sheet; City Of New York Human Resources Administration, December 2001 HRA/DSS Fact Sheet; City Of New York Office Of Operations, Reengineering Municipal Services 1994-2001, p. 111)

58.37% Decrease In Number Of Welfare Recipients, From 1.1 Million In January 1994 To 462,595 In December 2001. (City Of New York Human Resources Administration, January 1999 HRA/DSS Fact Sheet; City Of New York Human Resources Administration, December 2001 HRA/DSS Fact Sheet;)

Giuliani Turned Welfare Offices Into Job Centers, Which Made 151,376 Placements In FY 2001. (City Of New York Office Of Operations, Reengineering Municipal Services 1994-2001, p. 111)

New York City's Workfare Program Required 20 Hours/Week Of Able-Bodied Recipients. (City Of New York Office Of Operations, Reengineering Municipal Services 1994-2001, p. 103)

• Over 250,000 Total Work Experience Program (WEP) Participants. (City Of New York Office Of Operations, Reengineering Municipal Services 1994-2001, p. 103)

• 35,599 WEP Participants At Program's Peak In 1999. (Independent Budget Office Of The City Of New York, "Welfare And Work," http://www.ibo.nyc.ny.us/newsfax/nws61welfareandwork.html, 2/14/05)