Chuck Grassley: “To start out with the very basic issue of child care that Senator Kassebaum has brought up is really starting out with a…”

“To start out with the very basic issue of child care that Senator Kassebaum has brought up is really starting out with a heavy burden. The Senator from Kansas is always well prepared, and so we cannot find any fault with the preparation for her amendment, but we do take exception to the rationale behind the amendment and consequently cannot support it. Behind the amendment I believe is an assumption that somehow if you are on welfare, or are low income, and it comes to the subject of getting up in the morning and going to work--and obviously if you are on welfare, there is a family involved, so there is a child that must be taken some place when you are on welfare--it assumes somehow that low-income people are different than other people; that when it comes to child care, they cannot do it; they cannot seek good child care, go through the business arrangements required, and on their own, without the help of the Federal Government or without the help of the State government, be able to provide for the care of a child while the mother and/or father are at work.”