The politics of welfare reform in Wisconsin

Past research on welfare politics is mostly about why the liberal welfare r eform proposals of the 1960s and 1970s were defeated. The politics of the m ore conservative 1980s and 1990s, less studied include several messy compro mises between the parries and a clear-cut conservative backlash-the 1996 fe deral welfare reform. Wisconsin, home of the nation's most radical reform, suggests a more promising pattern-bipartisan concordat. The state imposed s evere work requirements on welfare adults while, at the same rime, providin g unprecedented subsidies for the working poor. The political basis was unu sual agreement among the parties coupled with the weakness of outside veto groups. Background factors included Wisconsin's conservative society and a masterful government the heir of Progressivism. In Wisconsin, liberals acce pted the end of entitlement, while conservatives accepted an expanded antip overty policy. If other states, or the nation, did likewise, the welfare st ate would be more strongly founded.