Political Quotes

“I thought the hallmark of the New Deal was the willingness to concede that every new idea in the New Deal didn't work. Some of them had to be junked; some of them had to be changed substantially. I was one who voted in favor of the welfare reform legislation. I believed that we needed to change the welfare system in this country, to change the mentality of welfare, to break the generational dependency that was repeating and repeating. I said as I voted for it, and I repeat today, that bill, as drafted, was not perfect law by a long shot. It didn't reflect the reality of change that would take place across America. So since then, on four or five different occasions, we have modified welfare reform in order to be more responsive to the actual needs of Americans.”