Karen Thurman: “I honestly believe that tomorrow this is going to be one of the most important votes we take in this Congress, and maybe…”

“I honestly believe that tomorrow this is going to be one of the most important votes we take in this Congress, and maybe for some of us, in our careers. I think welfare changes make no sense if we deform, rather than reform, the current system. The only bill this House will have the opportunity to debate that actually reforms the system is the bipartisan Castle-Tanner bill. Reforming welfare means assessing the policy impact of a proposal and considering what these changes will mean for real people, like our Nation's children. The best way for us to deform the system is to say you want to cut $60 billion, and then start cutting the vital programs that form our social safety net without any concern for who gets hurt. This is the key difference between Castle-Tanner and the majority's bill. In the Castle-Tanner bill, we worried about people. We made certain that innocent children would not be hurt. The majority worried about numbers and only numbers.”