Once a Welfare Reformer, Biden Now Turning IRS Into Biggest Welfare Agency

Then-Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) speaks to reporters after meeting with President Bill Clinton at the White House on Feb. 10, 1995. David Ake/AFP via Getty Images

Commentary

When President Bill Clinton’s welfare-reform proposal stalled in Congress in the summer of 1996, Democratic Sen. Joe Biden stepped in to push a tougher bill that gave more concessions to Republicans. He boasted his bill would get “tough on welfare moms.”