Social Policy

Abstract

Clinton, though elected on a minority 43 percent of the popular vote, promised major domestic policy legislation on gaining office. The twin goals of health and welfare reform were to fulfil campaign promises but also to distance the Democrats from the “tax and spend” label. In the event, the promotion of health care reform, and its failure, had important consequences for the strategy for welfare reform. In campaigning for office, Clinton had made health care an important plank of his Democratic heritage, a new “New Deal” whereby a national health insurance program completed what was essentially the agenda of the Roosevelt and Johnson years — a liberal inheritance. But Clinton was the New Democrat, seeking the votes of Middle America after twelve years of Republicans in the White House. Promising to “end welfare as we know it,” candidate Clinton had stressed education and job training, support for lowincome families through the Earned Income Tax Credit, stricter enforcement of parental obligations for child support, and changes to the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), which would promote entry into the workforce and child care for recipients.