Political Quotes

“No apology necessary, Mr. Speaker. I am just pleased to join you all in celebrating what I think is a great victory for America today. Today really is not a day for partisanship, it is a day for celebration. The truth is all across America, Americans understand that the welfare system we have, though well-intended, simply is not working. It is not working for the Americans that are at work and paying taxes, now paying taxes of close to half of their income, supporting those people. It is not working for them. But even more importantly, the welfare system that we have created in this Nation, out of a desire to help our fellow man and our fellow women and the poor children in this country, simply is not benefiting them. I think the beauty of it, and it is well put in the gentleman's quote about the young boy who says, 'Now I can say that my mother has a job, or is not on welfare any longer,' is the benefit for those people who are right now trapped in the system. In a way, God created us to respond to incentives. The incentives in the current system are very bad. The incentives encourage people not to go back to work. They encourage people to have multiple illegitimate births. They encourage people to engage in lifestyles which are self-destructive. All Americans recognize that there ought to be a safety net there to help those in need, but the safety net we have built has become not only a safety net but a trap. People try to climb out of that net and are caught up in it.”