Mitt Romney has released a new television ad accusing President Barack Obama of "gutting welfare reform."

The Republican presidential contender says Obama simply wants to pass out checks without the work requirement adopted in President Bill Clinton's welfare overhaul.

The Obama campaign says Romney is twisting the facts. Obama says he's giving states the flexibility they've asked for to make welfare more efficient. Romney is among several Republican governors who signed a letter back in 1995 asking for more "waiver authority."

The ad is part of Romney's push to paint Obama as a big-government liberal.

Romney's campaign is refusing to say where and when the new advertisement is running. Its release comes the same day that Romney campaigns in Chicago, the home of Obama's national campaign headquarters.