Robert Longley, the author of the article entitled Welfare Reform in the United States from Handouts to Employment, stated in his study of welfare reform: “There were no time limits on payments, and it was not unusual for people to continue on welfare throughout their lives” (Longley). By the mid-1990s, public opinion had turned strongly against the welfare system. The old system did not encourage recipients to look for work, welfare rolls were exploding, and the system was seen as rewarding and actually perpetuating, rather than reducing poverty in the U.S..