Xavier Becerra: “I hope everyone votes against the rule, votes against the previous question and, certainly, we should oppose martial…”

“I hope everyone votes against the rule, votes against the previous question and, certainly, we should oppose martial law, because it is not deserved. We are being asked to vote in the blind because we never had a chance to read this bill. We are having our voices silenced because we have not been offered an opportunity to present amendments in the people's House to debate what is very important to the American people, and we are being told that we should cast a vote in the dark of night when most Americans will be asleep because we have something to hide in this Chamber. What is it that this majority has to hide with regard to this so-called welfare reform bill that is before us? Well, first of all, we have a bill before us that provides inflexible and unfunded mandates: Inflexible because the States will not have much choice on how to manage their welfare rolls and to use what they have learned through best practices to try to decrease their rolls; and unfunded because those requirements do not give the States the flexibility to use the monies where they believe best. Two quick examples. This welfare reform bill does child care on the cheap. We should understand that one out of every seven American children who qualifies for day care gets it, the other six do not.”