Political Quotes

“this is a great day. I want to thank the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Mrs. Johnson) for her leadership and my friend the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cardin) for his leadership in crafting a bipartisan bill. I think back to 1994, when I had the privilege of being elected to this body, and at that time there were more children living in poverty than ever before. As a result of the welfare reform efforts led by this Congress, we have now seen a reduction by one-half of our Nation's welfare rolls. This legislation addressing fatherhood and families and strengthening families is a continued positive, successful step forward. That is why I want to commend the chairwoman and the ranking member for this effort. I also want to thank the committee for including an amendment that was offered by the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Thurman) and myself which treats more fairly private organizations such as Catholic charities and Jewish Welfare League and others who serve in providing foster care and other child care services under the programs in this legislation. Under current law, the Federal Government provides a 75 percent matching rate for funds spent training public child welfare workers. But that match is not there for those private workers through Catholic charities and other organizations. Our amendment, which was included in this legislation, brings parity to the treatment of both public and private workers involved in child welfare.”