Bill Clinton: “I agree with that. Let me give you one--first of all, now that the New Hampshire unemployment rate is down to about 3.2…”

“I agree with that. Let me give you one--first of all, now that the New Hampshire unemployment rate is down to about 3.2 percent, all the economists say that at any given time in a country like ours 3 percent of the people will be walking around somewhere. That will be--you know, they'll be moving home with their parents, they'll be moving to another State, something will be happening. So when you get an economy down to 3 percent or a little below-- there are two or three States that have unemployment rates below 3 percent, but it's very difficult to get below 3 percent, so the labor markets get very tight. So then the question is, how do you move people from welfare into the work force? I think the rules have to be changed to put time limits on welfare for anybody that can go to work that has access to a job. I think they are entitled to some support. I think that the problem is, if you take a job and you have very low wages and there is nobody giving you any child care help, you may actually lose ground. Or if your child loses Medicaid health insurance coverage because you go to work, that's tough. But one of the things that--this started in Oregon--we have given 50 experiments freedom from Federal rules and regulations in 35 States to try to move people from welfare to work. One of the things that I think all of the low unemployment States should consider doing is what Oregon has done. We gave them permission to do this. They have the right to take the cash value of the monthly welfare check and the food stamps and give it to the employer for 6 to 9 months as an income supplement to hire people off welfare. So people have to work for the money. They're going to get the money anyway, but now they have to go to work for it, and it's recycled through the employer. You have to give them, I think, a little more than that. But you would have to anyway just to meet the minimum wage requirements. But still, it's a subsidy that you get for 6 to 9 months, than you can decide whether to keep the employee or not. But then by that time, the employee's acquired work experience, the confidence of going to work every day, something you can put on a resume. And I think it is probably the quickest, easiest way to move people from welfare to work in areas that have low unemployment. In areas with high unemployment it won't work, and people would be upset because they'd be, you know, you'd be picking employees over another. But once the unemployment rate gets pretty low in a given area, I think it's one thing that would really make a huge difference. And I think we've got four or five States that are trying it now, and I'm trying to urge everybody to do it. When I spoke in Vermont last year, I spoke to the Governors, and I said, there are five things that if you will do with your welfare proposal, these five things will give you immediate approval. And that's one of the things that I'd like to see done. And that would give small-business people like you the opportunity to deal one-on-one with people who are moving from welfare to work, you'd be able to teach them things about the work force, you'd be able to--you know, even if at the end of the period you decided you couldn't keep them, it could make a big difference in their lives. So that's one of the things. And if the version--if what I'm asking the Congress to do or some variation thereof passes in welfare reform legislation, then the States would automatically be able to do this. They wouldn't even have to ask us for permission. I wish they didn't today, but under the present law they have to. [A participant explained that one of her employees, who was an unwed teen mother, was told that she had to go on welfare in order to receive health insurance for her baby. She asked if the programs could be split.]”