l Security or Medicare, two very popular programs. Consequently, the budget deficit ballooned and the federal government became, in many ways, even bigger. However, the Reagan presidency gave new prominence to federalism issues that would be promoted after the Republican Party captured control of Congress in 1994.In 1994, for the first time in forty years, a Republican majority was elected to both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. A top priority for the new majority was scaling back the federal government. In the words of House Budget Committee Chairman John R. Kasich (R-Ohio), “Congress wanted to return money, power, and responsibility to the states” (Kasich 1994). This was a campaign some dubbed the devolution revolution.President Bill Clinton responded to this shift in popular sentiment by declaring in his 1996 State of the Union address that “the era of big government is over” (Clinton, 1996).Clinton supported much of the legislation that emerged from the 104th Congress, including an unfounded mandates law so that Washington will have to provide funds for state and local governments to enforce most new federal policies or mandates.The recent emphasis on giving states more authority has had a major effect on the issue of poverty. President Clinton came into office in 1993 promising to end welfare as we know it. “But it was a Republican Congress in 1996 that did so. After President Clinton had twice vetoed welfare reform bills, he and Congress finally agreed to merge welfare reform with devolution” (Dye, 1999, p.122). In August 1996 he fulfilled his promise by signing a historic welfare reform bill called the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act. The law ended the 61 years guarantee of direct cash assistance to poor families with children and gave states vast new authority to run their own welfare programs with block grants from the federal government. Sup...
