Patsy T. Mink: “I intend to vote against this conference report. The Urban Institute tells us that over a million children will be put…”

“I intend to vote against this conference report. The Urban Institute tells us that over a million children will be put into poverty as a result of this legislation. We are told by our own Republican Congressional Budget Office that it is underfunded insofar as the work requirements. If indeed we want our people on welfare to go to work, is it not fair to expect that there will be dollars there to provide them jobs, not to cut them adrift after 2 years without any cash support whatsoever? That is what the consequence of this bill will do. It will force people out on the streets, literally, with no cash assistance whatsoever and without the promise of any assistance in finding jobs. The women on welfare want to work. Look at any study that has been issued. These studies tell us that over 60 percent of the young mothers on welfare are out there looking for jobs and half of them do find them and they get off welfare. These people who say that the women stay there 13 years on welfare are simply not telling the truth.”