Romney Attacks Obama on Welfare in New Ad

The presumptive GOP nominee once supported the sort of work requirement waiver he is attacking Obama for.

Mitt Romney's campaign on Monday escalated its attack on President Obama's welfare policy, releasing a new TV ad that cites a Richmond Times-Dispatch editorial that alleges the president is trying to end work requirements for welfare and calls that decision "nuts."

"One of the most respected newspapers in America called it 'nuts,' saying, 'If you want to get more people to work, you don't loosen the requirements – you tighten them," a voiceover says.

The ad alleges that Obama "quietly" ended work requirements for welfare, effectively "gutting" former President Bill Clinton's 1996 bipartisan welfare reform bill. The ad is referring to a memo from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius informing states that the administration was willing to waive federal work requirements if the state welfare programs could come up with their own plans to improve employment outcomes.