--- title: CPAC: Donald Trump Tells Americans to Get Off Welfare description: President Trump said during his CPAC speech that "it’s time for Americans to get off of welfare." canonical: https://time.com/4682003/donald-trump-cpac-welfare/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-24T16:26:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T07:18:08.983Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Says ‘It’s Time for Americans to Get Off of Welfare’ og:description: The unemployment rate generally has been hovering at its lowest levels since the recession og:url: https://time.com/4682003/donald-trump-cpac-welfare/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt15a3b1819a861852/6988bbd08fd2ee818d355e99/trump-cpac1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: President Trump Addresses Annual CPAC Event In National Harbor, Maryland og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Says ‘It’s Time for Americans to Get Off of Welfare’ twitter:description: The unemployment rate generally has been hovering at its lowest levels since the recession twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt15a3b1819a861852/6988bbd08fd2ee818d355e99/trump-cpac1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Says ‘It’s Time for Americans to Get Off of Welfare’ > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=c66ef201-6eef-4ccb-add7-b59d5e419cb4&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Trump Says ‘It’s Time for Americans to Get Off of Welfare’ [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Says ‘It’s Time for Americans to Get Off of Welfare’](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fy1VcUhx.m3u8) (0:45)  _Published 2017-02-24. "It’s time for all Americans to get off of welfare and get back to work," he said during his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference. "You’re going to love it."_  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 24, 2017 4:26 PM UTC  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 24, 2017 4:26 PM UTC President [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4672974/donald-trump-white-house-chaos/) said Friday that Americans should stop using welfare. “It’s time for all Americans to get off of welfare and get back to work,” he said during his speech at the [Conservative Political Action Conference](http://time.com/4681802/donald-trump-cpac-speech-media/). “You’re going to love it.” Current [Bureau of Labor Statistics data](https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000) shows that the unemployment rate in the U.S. for January 2017 was 4.8%, up 0.1 percentage points from the previous month but down 0.1 percentage points from January 2016\. And the unemployment rate generally has been hovering at its lowest levels since the depths of the Great Recession. ## Transcript Fiat, Chrysler, General Motors, Sprint, Intel and so many others are now because of the elections result making major investments in the United States, expanding production and hiring more worker. And they're going back to Michigan, and they're going back to Ohio, and they're going back to Pennsylvania, and they're going back to North Carolina and to Florida. [ APPLAUSE ] [ APPLAUSE ] It's time for all Americans to get off of welfare and get back to work. You're gonna love it! You're gonna love it! You are going to love it. 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