Lynn C. Woolsey: “the goal of welfare reform is to move recipients into permanent jobs and make their families stronger. Will the…”

“the goal of welfare reform is to move recipients into permanent jobs and make their families stronger. Will the Wisconsin plan do that? How can we know? The Republicans are rushing through these waiver requests without giving the administration or Members of Congress time for review. Even worse, they are not giving the citizens of Wisconsin time to comment on the plan. In the 1 week since the Governor of Wisconsin delivered the request for these waivers to the White House, the administration has received more than 300 letters commenting on the effects of the waivers, letters that will not be considered. I received a letter from the Wisconsin Conference of Churches. Their letter expressed strong opposition to any bill which bypasses the normal 30-day comment period. Could it be that the Governor of Wisconsin and some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle do not feel the Wisconsin plan will hold up under normal scrutiny? Do they share the concern of the Children's Defense Fund, the Wisconsin Conference of Churches and others that a timely review of the Wisconsin welfare plan will reveal that this plan will weaken the safety net for poor children? I do not know the answer to this question. The truth is that no one does. There has not been enough time to review the waiver requests, to fully understand their effect on poor children in Wisconsin.”