Robert Rector is a Senior Research Fellow on Welfare and Family Issues at Heritage Foundation[1], a conservative think-tank based in Washington D.C., where he has studied welfare, poverty, marriage, and family issues for the last 18 years. Mr. Rector has written over 100 articles and research papers, is the author of the book America's Failed $5.4 Trillion War on Poverty, a comprehensive examination of U.S. Welfare programs, and is the co-editor of Steering the Elephant: How Washington Works.
Career
Graduating from the College of William and Mary, Mr. Rector later earned his master's degree in political science from Johns Hopkins University. Early in his career, he has worked as a legislative assistant in the Virginia House of Delegates, as a management analyst at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management., and as a commissioner on the Congressionally mandated Millennial Housing Commission. In 1996, Mr. Rector played a leading role in creating one of the first major federal abstinence education programs in America. He wrote the legislative language authorizing and defining the new program, co-authored the report, Comprehensive Sex Education vs. Authentic Abstinence: a Study in Competing Curricula[2], and has since promoted legislation to strengthen marriage in low income communities as well. Also in 1996 and working with members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, Mr. Rector played a key role in developing the landmark welfare reform legislation, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996. Among its major changes, PRWORA replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program with a time-limited assistance and work requirement program called Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and gave states more leeway in structuring their welfare administrations. Robert Rector has also played an important role in immigration issues. This year, while the Senate was debating immigration reform, Rector produced an analysis showing that the proposed Senate legislation would permit 100 million new immigrants to enter the U.S. over the next 20 years. This analysis was widely publicized and led to immediate changes in the Senate bill. Robert Rector has spoken widely in the U.S. and in other countries on the topic of welfare reform, among others. He frequently appears on television and radio. Articles by him have been published in The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times and hundreds of other newspapers. Mr. Rector's writings have also appeared in National Review, Policy Review, The Review of Social Economy, The Journal of Labor Research, The World and I, The American Enterprise, Insight, Human Events, The Harvard Journal on Legislation and other magazines.
Commentary
In 1995, The Wall Street Journal declared, "to understand what Republicans are trying to do about welfare, don’t look to Newt Gingrich. Watch Robert Rector." David Broder writing in The Washington Post has stated, "Money is an important ingredient in our elections and deserves security… but ideas are important too. The Heritage Foundation’s Robert Rector [has] had more influence in the last decade than any fund-raisers or contributors, because candidates have turned to [him] for policy advice."
Studies and Papers written by Mr. Rector
- Understanding Poverty in America
- Importing Poverty: Immigration and Poverty in the United States: A Book of Charts
- Immigration Numbers: Setting the Record Straight
- Teenage Sexual Abstinence and Academic Achievement
- Teens Who Make Virginity Pledges Have Substantially Improved Life Outcomes
- Two Americas: One Rich, One Poor? Understanding Income Inequality in the United States
- The Impact of Welfare Reform
- Amnesty and Continued Low Skill Immigration Will Substantially Raise Welfare Costs and Poverty
- The Collapse of Marriage and the Rise of Welfare Dependence
- The Heritage Foundation
