Editing Newt Gingrich (section)

==== Welfare reform ====
A central pledge of President [[Bill Clinton]]'s campaign was to reform the welfare system, adding changes such as work requirements for recipients. However, by 1994, the [[Presidency of Bill Clinton|Clinton administration]] appeared to be more concerned with pursuing a [[universal health care]] program. Gingrich accused Clinton of stalling on welfare, and proclaimed that Congress could pass a welfare reform bill in as little as 90 days. He insisted that the Republican Party would continue to apply political pressure on the President to approve their welfare legislation.<ref>{{cite news |title=Clinton Puzzle: How to Delay Welfare Reform Yet Seem to Pursue It |first=Jason |last=DeParle |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=January 5, 1994 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/05/us/clinton-puzzle-how-to-delay-welfare-reform-yet-seem-to-pursue-it.html |access-date=October 28, 2010 |archive-date=May 15, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515112326/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/05/us/clinton-puzzle-how-to-delay-welfare-reform-yet-seem-to-pursue-it.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1996, after constructing two welfare reform bills that Clinton vetoed,<ref name="Gillon">{{cite book |title=The Pact: Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and the Rivalry that Defined a Generation |last=Gillon |first=Steven |year=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press, United States |isbn=978-0-19-532278-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/pactbillclintonn00gill/page/177 177] |url=https://archive.org/details/pactbillclintonn00gill/page/177 }}</ref> Gingrich and his supporters pushed for passage of the [[Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act]], which was intended to reconstruct the welfare system. The act gave state governments more autonomy over welfare delivery, while also reducing the federal government's responsibilities. It instituted the [[Temporary Assistance for Needy Families]] program, which placed time limits on welfare assistance and replaced the longstanding [[Aid to Families with Dependent Children]] program. Other changes to the welfare system included stricter conditions for food stamp eligibility, reductions in immigrant welfare assistance, and work requirements for recipients.<ref>{{cite journal |last=O'Connor |first=Brendan |title=The protagonists and ideas behind the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996: The enactment of a conservative welfare system |journal=Social Justice |date=Winter 2001}}</ref> The bill was signed into law by President Clinton on August 22, 1996.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Glass |first1=Andrew |title=Clinton signs 'Welfare to Work' bill, Aug. 22, 1996 |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/22/clinton-signs-welfare-to-work-bill-aug-22-1996-790321 |date=August 22, 2018 |work=[[Politico]] |access-date=March 4, 2020 |archive-date=March 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200304010642/https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/22/clinton-signs-welfare-to-work-bill-aug-22-1996-790321 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In his 1998 book ''Lessons Learned the Hard Way'', Gingrich encouraged volunteerism and spiritual renewal, placing more importance on families, creating tax incentives and reducing regulations for businesses in poor neighborhoods, and increasing property ownership by low-income families. He also praised [[Habitat for Humanity]] for sparking the movement to improve people's lives by helping them build their own homes.<ref>{{cite book |title=Lessons Learned the Hard Way: A Personal Report |last=Gingrich |first=Newt |year=1998 |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers |isbn=978-0-06-019106-1 |pages=74–85 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=34J4AAAAMAAJ |access-date=March 18, 2014 |archive-date=August 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806184804/https://books.google.com/books?id=34J4AAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>