Welfare Reform Is Already a Reality in Wisconsin

By Jessica Portner

Fond du Lac, Wis.

At a Mobil gasoline-station and minimart just off U.S. Highway 41 here, 21-year-old Antoinette Barton is at the cash register ringing up customers who stop in for gasoline, lottery tickets, or cigarettes. The bell on the door chimes repeatedly as a stream of people walk in and line up at the counter.

She is working here on a clear October morning as part of an experimental welfare program that requires recipients to punch a time clock to...