Robert Rector

Rector received an undergraduate degree from The College of William & Mary and a masters in political science from Johns Hopkins University.{{cite web |url=http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/printers/110th/36174.PDF |title=Comprehensive Immigration Reform |date=19 June 2007 |work=Hearing Before The Subcommittee on Immigration |publisher=United States House of Representatives |page=11 |access-date=7 June 2011}}

Rector has worked for The Heritage Foundation since 1984.{{cite web |url=http://www.heritage.org/about/staff/r/robert-rector |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100315141438/http://www.heritage.org/About/Staff/R/Robert-Rector |url-status=unfit |archive-date=March 15, 2010 |title=Robert Rector |work=The Heritage Foundation |access-date=1 June 2011}} He is the editor of the 1987 book, Steering the Elephant: How Washington Works, and the co-author of the 1995 book, America's Failed $5.4 Trillion War on Poverty.{{cite web |url=http://www.welfareacademy.org/conf/papers/rector_bio.shtml |title=Robert Rector |work=Welfare Reform Academy |publisher=University of Maryland School of Public Policy |access-date=31 May 2011}}

Rector has been a management analyst for the United States Office of Personnel Management and a legislative assistant in the Virginia House of Delegates. From 2001 to 2002, he served as a commissioner of the Millennial Housing Commission.{{cite web |url=http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/mhc/commish.html#rector |title=Commissioners |work=Millennial Housing Commission |access-date=6 June 2011}}

Rector works on conservative poverty and welfare reform policy. He has testified before Congress and written extensively on the subject.{{cite news |title=Money or morals for the poor? |first=Ellen |last=Debenport |newspaper=St. Petersburg Times |date=10 April 1995}}

Rector played a major role in the design and crafting of the welfare reform legislation enacted in 1996,{{cite web |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5733499.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090217153629/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5733499.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 17, 2009 |title=Obama warned over welfare spendathon |first=Tony |last=Allen-Mills |date=15 February 2009 |work=The Times |access-date=6 June 2011}} which marked a significant shift in American welfare policy.{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1799286 |title=Welfare Reform In America |first=Cheryl |last=Corley |date=30 March 2004 |work=NPR |access-date=7 June 2011}} Early in the reform process, the Wall Street Journal called Rector the “leading guru” behind the Republican position on welfare, stating, “to understand what Republicans are trying to do about welfare, don’t look to Newt Gingrich. Watch Robert Rector.”{{cite news |last1=Stout |first1=Hilary |title=Behind The Scenes |issue=A1 |publisher=The Wall Street Journal |date=January 23, 1995}}

Rector promoted work and marriage as primary means to reduce material poverty and improve the well-being of the poor.{{cite book |last1=Rector |first1=Robert |title=America's Failed $5.4 Trillion War on Poverty |date=December 1, 1995 |publisher=The Heritage Foundation |isbn=0891950621 |pages=115}} His writing frequently expresses deep concern over the decline of marriage and rise of non-marital child bearing in low income communities and argues that dependence on welfare has harmed American society by discouraging marriage. He insists that welfare reform should seek to promote married two parent families.{{cite news |last=Page |first=Clarence |date=August 13, 2006 |title=Welfare reformed, poverty persists |work=Chicago Tribune |publisher=Tribune Media |issn=1085-6706 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2006/08/13/welfare-reformed-poverty-persists/}}

Rector has written frequently on the subjects of welfare and poverty, including the 1992 The Wall Street Journal article "America's Poverty Myth", which asserted that the US Census inaccurately measures poverty,{{cite news |title=America's Poverty Myth |first=Robert |last=Rector |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=3 September 1992}} and his 1995 book with William Lauber, America's Failed $5.4 Trillion War on Poverty, which criticized welfare laws in the US for allegedly rewarding breakdowns in family values.{{cite web |url=http://www.thefreemanonline.org/columns/incentives-and-disincentives-they-really-do-matter/ |title=Incentives and Disincentives |first=Lawrence W. |last=Reed |date=November 2000 |work=The Freeman |publisher=Foundation for Economic Education |access-date=6 June 2011}} His research has found that 99.6% of people whom the Census classifies as poor actually have access to refrigerators.{{cite web |url=https://www.heritage.org/poverty-and-inequality/report/air-conditioning-cable-tv-and-xbox-what-poverty-the-united-states |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170204010122/http://www.heritage.org/poverty-and-inequality/report/air-conditioning-cable-tv-and-xbox-what-poverty-the-united-states |url-status=unfit |archive-date=February 4, 2017 |title=Air Conditioning, Cable TV, and an Xbox: What is Poverty in the United States Today? |publisher=Heritage Foundation}}

In 1995, The Wall Street Journal called Rector the "leading guru" behind the Republicans' position on welfare.{{cite news |title=Behind The Scenes |first=Hilary |last=Stout |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal}} In 2006, editor Rich Lowry of the conservative National Review called Rector, "the intellectual godfather" of welfare reform.{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/218505/welfare-reform-miracle/rich-lowry |title=The Welfare-Reform Miracle |first=Rich |last=Lowry |date=18 August 2006 |work=National Review Online |access-date=3 June 2011}}

Rector has been a researcher on immigration policy{{cite news |title=Senate swayed by analyst's immigrant count |first=Carolyn |last=Lockhead |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=20 June 2006}} and has testified before Congress on the subject.{{cite news |title=Equal Time: Amnesty for low-skill workers will add to poverty, dependence |first=Robert |last=Rector |newspaper=Atlanta Journal-Constitution |date=6 June 2007}} In 2006, Rector published a report on the proposed Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act for The Heritage Foundation, stating that passage of the bill would lead to more than 100 million new legal immigrants within 20 years.{{cite web |url=http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2006/05/Senate-Immigration-Bill-Would-Allow-100-Million-New-Legal-Immigrants-over-the-Next-Twenty-Years |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100319094424/http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2006/05/Senate-Immigration-Bill-Would-Allow-100-Million-New-Legal-Immigrants-over-the-Next-Twenty-Years |url-status=unfit |archive-date=March 19, 2010 |title=Senate Immigration Bill Would Allow 100 Million New Legal Immigrants over the Next Twenty Years |first=Robert |last=Rector |date=15 May 2006 |work=The Heritage Foundation |access-date=6 June 2011}}

With statistical assistance from Harvard Ph.D. and then Heritage Research Fellow Jason Richwine, Rector wrote a report on the fiscal cost of proposed amnesty legislation to the United States. The report was published by the Heritage Foundation on May 6, 2013.{{cite web |url=http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/05/the-fiscal-cost-of-unlawful-immigrants-and-amnesty%20to-the-us-taxpayer |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130506205247/http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/05/the-fiscal-cost-of-unlawful-immigrants-and-amnesty%20to-the-us-taxpayer |url-status=unfit |archive-date=May 6, 2013 |title=The Fiscal Cost of Unlawful Immigrants and Amnesty to the U.S. Taxpayer |last1=Rector |first1=Robert |last2=Richwine |first2=Jason |date=2013-05-06 |access-date=2013-05-21 |publisher=The Heritage Foundation}} Rector and Jim DeMint, a former U.S. Senator and the newly installed Heritage Foundation president, introduced the report in an op-ed article in the Washington Post.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/amnesty-for-illegal-immigrants-will-cost-america/2013/05/06/e5d19afc-b661-11e2-b94c-b684dda07add_story.html |title=What amnesty for illegal immigrants will cost America |newspaper=Washington Post |last1=DeMint |first1=Jim |last2=Rector |first2=Robert |access-date=2013-05-21 |date=2013-05-06}}

The methods used in the report met with considerable criticism from a number of think tanks and immigration policy analysts across the political spectrum, including Alex Nowrasteh of the Cato Institute,{{cite web |url=http://www.cato.org/blog/heritages-flawed-immigration-analysis |title=Heritage's Flawed Immigration Analysis |last=Nowrasteh |first=Alex |publisher=Cato Institute (blog) |date=2013-05-07 |access-date=2013-05-21}} Michael Clemens of the Center for Global Development,{{cite web |url=http://www.cgdev.org/blog/magically-vanishing-slice-pie-shockingly-bad-methods-behind-heritage-foundation%E2%80%99s-estimates |title=The Magically Vanishing Slice of Pie |last=Clemens |first=Michael |work=Center For Global Development |publisher=Center for Global Development (blog) |date=2013-05-07 |access-date=2013-05-21}} and many others.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2013/05/06/conservative-leaders-slam-heritage-for-shoddy-immmigration-study/ |title=Conservative leaders slam Heritage for shoddy {{sic|immmi|gration |nolink=y}} study |last=Rubin |first=Jennifer |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=2013-05-06 |access-date=2013-05-21}}

Later, widespread publicity of past research by study co-author Jason Richwine on race and intelligence and race and crime in the United States, as part of his Ph.D. dissertation at Harvard University under George Borjas, led to a greater backlash against the study. Richwine left Heritage as a result of the controversy.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/08/heritage-study-co-author-opposed-letting-in-immigrants-with-low-iqs/ |title=Heritage study co-author opposed letting in immigrants with low IQs |last=Matthews |first=Dylan |access-date=2013-05-21 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=2013-05-08}}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/us/heritage-analysts-dissertation-on-immigrant-iq-causes-furor.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 |title=Paper on Immigrant I.Q. Dogs Critic of Overhaul |last1=Parker |first1=Ashley |last2=Preston |first2=Julia |date=2013-05-09 |access-date=2013-05-21 |newspaper=The New York Times}}{{cite magazine |url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/05/10/jason_richwine_resigns_from_the_heritage_foundation.html |title=Jason Richwine Resigns from the Heritage Foundation |last=Weigel |first=David |magazine=Slate |access-date=2013-05-21 |date=2013-05-10}}

Rector is a proponent of abstinence education. His advocacy prompted the inclusion of school-program funding for the teaching of abstinence in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act.{{cite news |title=Chastity makes a comeback |first=Lynn |last=Smith |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=10 August 1999 |issn=0458-3035 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-aug-10-mn-64274-story.html}} Rector has published research papers for The Heritage Foundation that conclude a delay in the onset of sexual activity is linked to positive life outcomes.{{cite web |url=http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2004/03/facts-about-abstinence-education |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100316211340/http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2004/03/Facts-about-Abstinence-Education |url-status=unfit |archive-date=March 16, 2010 |title=Facts about Abstinence Education |first=Robert |last=Rector |date=30 March 2004 |work=The Heritage Foundation |access-date=31 May 2011}} He is quoted as an expert on abstinence education by numerous media outlets, including The New York Times.{{cite news |last=Rabin |first=Roni Caryns |date=10 May 2010 |title=New spending for a wider range of sex education |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/11/health/policy/11land.html}}{{cite news |title=Why abstinence education is under attack from the left |first=Robert |last=Rector |newspaper=Chicago Sun Times |date=14 February 2011}} In 1999, the Los Angeles Times called Rector the "architect of the abstinence-only movement."

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• {{unfit|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100330034337/http://www.heritage.org/Research/All-Research?author_id=%7B1415508A-AA99-4A49-BCC8-B53BA86F7B18%7D Rector's Heritage Foundation research papers]}}
• {{unfit|1=[https://archive.today/20130415001321/http://www.heritage.org/About/Staff/R/Robert-Rector Heritage Foundation bio]}}
• {{C-SPAN|5750}}

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