Lynn C. Woolsey: “The Cardin-Woolsey-Kind substitute makes poverty reduction a core purpose of welfare reform. It offers bonuses to States…”

“The Cardin-Woolsey-Kind substitute makes poverty reduction a core purpose of welfare reform. It offers bonuses to States that reduce child poverty. The Democratic substitute gives low-income parents access to real education, such as an AA degree, vocational training, literacy classes, English as a second language or GED studies. Our substitute gives families the support and services they need while they are working and learning, like an additional $11 billion in mandatory funding for child care over 5 years. We know that States are struggling right now to meet the demand for child care. Twenty States currently have waiting lists for child care; and in my State of California, only 19 percent of the children and families on welfare received any type of child care assistance. This is before the Republican challenge to send welfare moms to work for 40 hours a week. There is no way that their small increase in H.R. 4 for child care funding will be able to meet this expanded need. Nobody knows more than I do how important child care is when you are struggling and working. I was a mother on welfare 35 years ago.”