Xavier Becerra: “It seems to be absurd. We are talking so much these days about reforming welfare, and we always seem to forget that…”

“It seems to be absurd. We are talking so much these days about reforming welfare, and we always seem to forget that welfare comes in many shapes and in many sizes and in some cases big sizes. When you take a look at the fact that welfare, as most people think of it, welfare to a woman and her children who cannot afford to live without some assistance from the Government, we are talking about something in the order of about $16.5 billion is what we give out to people who are poor and who need some assistance. Contrast that to welfare that we do not think of very often, but welfare that we give to corporations, welfare to the tune of about $225 billion per year, money that we pay out as taxpayers by giving corporations tax breaks, letting them off from paying certain taxes. We have to make that up. So in this whole discussion that I hear going on about the minimum wage, about welfare reform, about trying to do something for the working man and the working woman, I think it is interesting to note a program that helps 10 million children that are in poverty is being discussed for radical, in many cases, reform, but programs that help corporations to the tune of $225 billion are not touched.”