Nancy L. Johnson: “Mr. Speaker, the goal of TANF, that is, welfare reform, was always twofold: first, it was to help women who had children…”

“Mr. Speaker, the goal of TANF, that is, welfare reform, was always twofold: first, it was to help women who had children and no means of support and therefore were dependent on welfare to regain their economic independence by entering the workforce. That goal was for the woman, so she could realize her greatest potential, she could gain control of her life by being economically self-sufficient. And then the second goal was to lift her and her children out of poverty, occasionally he and his children out of poverty. Those twin goals of helping women on welfare to realize their skills, their potential, their capabilities to gain economic self-sufficiency and to raise children out of poverty were goals that we all shared, both sides of the aisle; but they were goals that were achieved by the structure of the bill that the Republicans crafted and passed and which at the time was extremely controversial. But it did work. Two million children have been lifted out of poverty.”