Lynn C. Woolsey: “6 years ago I voted against the welfare reform bill because I had been a welfare mother 35 years ago. I knew what we…”

“6 years ago I voted against the welfare reform bill because I had been a welfare mother 35 years ago. I knew what we needed to do to bring families out of poverty. I was right. Unfortunately, we have not brought families out of poverty. Yes, indeed, we have gotten many, many families to go to work. That is the good side of what has gone on. But we had a very good economy. When the economy is dropping, families are losing their jobs. But the worst thing about taking women and their families from welfare to work that we have experienced is they have gone from welfare to poverty, and we are keeping those families in poverty. The reason I got off welfare is because I was educated. I had a good education, I had good job skills, and I could take advantage of that. We have to provide just that for our families on welfare. Then we will have a successful welfare reform program. I voted against the bill in 1996 because I feared that moving from welfare to work would leave mothers stuck in poverty--especially during an economic downturn. Well, 6 years we succeeded in doing just that!! Women are working and women and their families are living in poverty. We have to learn from what didn't work. Now, we have a new bill . . . one that actually goes backwards on education . . .”