On the recordApril 25, 2002
35 years ago, I was a single mom with three small children, and even though I was working, I needed Aid for Dependent Children to make ends meet. When Congress passed welfare reform in 1996, I warned that getting women off the welfare rolls and into dead-end jobs would not be enough, and that the goal of welfare must be to break the cycle of poverty, not just get women jobs that pay slightly above minimum wage. With TANF reauthorization, we have an opportunity to fix what went wrong by allowing education and training to count as work, and by expanding child care to include weekend and evening work. Welfare moms can only succeed if they have skills needed for a job that pays a livable wage, and if their kids have access to quality child care. Welfare must break the cycle of poverty and strengthen our families. Let us use this TANF reauthorization to make welfare a success. Learn from the last 5 years.
Source
govinfo.gov
