The Return of the Welfare Queen - The Hunger Museum: A Virtual Project of MAZON

Today, a staggering number of Americans struggle to put food on the table. The Hunger Museum is a unique and powerful exploration of how we got here and how we can end hunger.
Explore the museum
- Venues
- Museum Lobby
- The Wishing Tree
- The SNAP Café
- Auditorium
- Terrace Restaurant
- Tours
- Take a Self-Guided Tour
- Book a Live Tour
Our mission is to engage and inspire visitors to join in advocating for systemic change, ensuring inclusive, equitable access to nutritious food for all Americans.
About the Hunger Museum
- Get Involved
- Advocate
- Book a Tour
- Leave your Wish
- Membership
- Patron Program
- Educational Curriculum
- About
- The Hunger Museum
- About MAZON
- In the News
- Events
- Contact Us

The Hunger Museum Tour We Can Solve Hunger — The Proof is in Our History

A New Bipartisan Consensus

By the end of the 1990s, America had a new bipartisan political consensus. While during the New Deal and Great Society eras, Americans broadly believed that the government should protect at least a minimum standard of living for the broad population, this new bipartisan consensus centered a few, not-so-new core beliefs.

First: that hunger and poverty are a symptom of personal failings by those who struggle. Second: that government had no role to play in solving the issue, since the problem was one based in personal responsibility, not structural challenges. And finally, that where there were gaps, charities could meet the need.

Pictured here are then-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Senator Bob Dole with President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, agreeing to the structures of “welfare reform.”

Where is it located in the Museum?

Hunger and the Culture Wars

“President Clinton shakes hands with Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas and Vice President Gore shakes hands with House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia during their Oval Office meeting to discuss the federal budget impasse.” December 19, 1995. Associated Press/White House.

By 1996, revival of the “welfare queen” myth by both media and political leaders — led in Congress by Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich — succeeded in urging President Clinton to sign into law the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, commonly known as welfare reform. This legislation included block grants to states that set their own eligibility standards, time limits, and work requirements for social safety net programs. Racist and sexist portrayals of welfare recipients by the media and policymakers painted these “reforms” as necessary to prevent willful idleness and criminal behavior among struggling Americans, though little evidence of widespread fraud existed.