Which act primarily influenced the transition to time-limited support for public assistance programs?

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), enacted in 1996, significantly reshaped public assistance programs in the United States by introducing time-limited support. This act aimed to promote work and personal responsibility, replacing the previous entitlement program of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) with a system of block grants known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

One of the key features of TANF is the establishment of a five-year lifetime limit on federal assistance, which encourages recipients to seek employment and achieve self-sufficiency within a defined time frame. This shift reflects a broader policy change towards welfare reform, emphasizing work requirements and reducing dependency on government assistance. Furthermore, PRWORA allowed states greater flexibility in designing their welfare programs, further embedding the principle of time-limited support as a core aspect of public assistance.

The other options, while relevant to social welfare and public assistance discussions, either do not specifically emphasize time-limited support or were enacted prior to PRWORA and thus did not have the same level of impact on the structure of welfare eligibility and time limits.