Alcee Hastings: “In 1996, allegedly, we were supposed to move people from welfare to work. In the State of Florida that I represent, it…”

“In 1996, allegedly, we were supposed to move people from welfare to work. In the State of Florida that I represent, it did not work. So for all of those coming here talking about welfare reform being an unqualified success, let me suggest to my colleagues that there were some failures along the path of their alleged success. One thing needs to be understood by this body. If we do not have child care, no matter what we do in here with reference to welfare, it is not going to work. If one does not have educational benefits, if one does not have training for people, then what we are going to do is lead people into dead-end work that leads to dead-end lives. Enough already. We have trapped people in this program, and what we are preparing to do is to trap them even more and create that cycle.”