Ed Royce: “as I was reading the papers this morning I noticed some stories that claimed that this welfare reform proposal is not…”

“as I was reading the papers this morning I noticed some stories that claimed that this welfare reform proposal is not such a big change--that its significance has been overrated. That all sides are coming to a consensus and it's not such a big deal after all. In the short term, that's how it may look. But in the long term, we are making a fundamental change to the status quo--we've gone beyond questioning the failed policies of the past--we are implementing a whole new approach. We are beginning to replace the welfare state with an opportunity society. Ideas have consequences and bad ideas have bad consequences. The Great Society approach may have been well-intentioned, but the impact was tragic. We have done a disservice to those who have fallen into the welfare trap. The incentives have been all wrong and the logic backward. We need a welfare system that saves families, rather than breaking them. And that's what this bill does. Our welfare system has deprived people of hope, diminished opportunity and destroyed lives. Go into our inner cities and you will find a generation fed on food stamps but starved of nurturing and hope. You'll meet young teens in their third pregnancy. You'll meet fatherless children. You'll talk to sixth graders who don't know how many inches are in a foot. And you'll talk to first-graders who don't know their ABC's. It's time for Washington to learn from its past mistakes.”