A group of sixth graders prepares to leave for their graduation pictures. But one little boy holds back. "What's the matter?" his teacher asks him softly. The boys eyes filled with tears."It's almost the end of the month," he says. "The welfare money has run out, so my mother can't afford to pay for a picture until the next check arrives." Welcome to life on welfare. In the summer of 1996, Democrats and Republicans finally …showed first 75 words of 549 total…

…showed last 75 words of 549 total…mention minimum wage still stands at a disgustingly low five dollars and fifteen cents an hour. All in all, despite the 1996 law, welfare reform is still a major issue in today's society. After decades of painful experience Congress and the federal bureaucracy must admit that neither they nor the programs they have designed over the past half century have been effective in lowering the poverty level, curbing illegitamacy or making low income Americans economically independent.