Dale Bumpers: “Mr. President, let me say, first, that nobody knows better than I that our welfare system does not work very well.…”

“Mr. President, let me say, first, that nobody knows better than I that our welfare system does not work very well. Everyone who is going to vote against this bill today said they do not like the system, that it is broke. There is a lot of truth in that. There are a number of reasons I am going to vote against this bill. First, the bill is not going to address those deficiencies we all know exist in the system. Second, I am going to vote against it because it discriminates against my home State of Arkansas in a massive way. Children in my State will get $390 a year. Children in Massachusetts will get $4,200 a year; in Washington, DC, $2,200 a year. You tell me why a child in Arkansas is worth $390 a year and $4,200 in Massachusetts. You expect me to vote for a formula like that, one that does not even take into consideration how many poor children are in your State? Everybody hates welfare. I am not too crazy about it myself. But I will tell you one thing. I have seen it firsthand. I have been in the ghettos of my State in the Delta. I can tell you it is not a pretty picture. Mr. President, I find it rather perverse that 535 men and women who make $133,000 a year will be voting on whether children are going to eat or not, whether their mothers are going to eat or not. Never has such an important piece of legislation been crafted in such a highly charged political environment.”