Patsy T. Mink: “I think all of us want to do what we can to provide a safety net. Every President that I have worked with talks about…”

“I think all of us want to do what we can to provide a safety net. Every President that I have worked with talks about the necessity of a social safety net. That is really all that the welfare program is. It is a safety net for families that have fallen on hard times, have recently gotten divorced, or lost a family member, as my colleague explained in her situation; and they need a helping hand. They should not be treated as though they are of less worth and dignity than all of us. We want their children to have the benefit of the best possible family situation that they could have. In talking about welfare benefits, I think Members have the feeling that there is this huge amount of money that is being remitted to the families on welfare, and that is certainly not true. The amounts of money that are allocated per month can be gotten by downloading the Congressional Research Service. It has a list of each State and what they pay each month to a family, family of one, two, three, four, five or six. Let us pick a family of three, that is, a single mom and two children. Alabama's monthly benefit for a family with two children is $164. One is barely able to keep oneself together with that amount of money; and yet we are saying to these families that they must go out to work and improve themselves.”