Jeff Flake: “in 1996, Congress did a very good thing: they reformed welfare and it was said at the time that it would throw children…”

“in 1996, Congress did a very good thing: they reformed welfare and it was said at the time that it would throw children into poverty and a lot of people would be worse off than they were before. Let us look at the figures. Mr. Speaker, 4.2 million fewer Americans live in poverty today than they did in 1996, and 2.3 million fewer children live in poverty today than in 1996. Now, the other side of this debate says that those are the ``alleged benefits.'' Those are not the alleged benefits; those are the facts. People are better off, everyone: children, women, minorities. We are all better off today than we were in 1996. What it all comes down to it, we can look at individuals. There is a great story here. Tanya, a single mother, went on public assistance when her twin girls were a year old. Since completing her work with Calworks last year, she has been able to earn enough money to purchase her own home. It is success stories like this, individuals that bring the meaning to us, that prove that we need to reauthorize this program and to continue to move forward.”