Recently, welfare reform legislation was passed making major changes in the welfare system for the first time in 60 years. In order to capture the effects of these welfare reform initiatives, one of the panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) is being extended to ten years. The extension was designed to provide information on spells of actual and potential program participation over a ten-year period; and to examine the causes of program participation and its long-term consequences on the well-being of recipients and their families.