Political Quotes

“But it does speak to the extraordinary transformation in the debate over welfare policy in the United States. I spoke earlier this week of the moment of February 8, 1971, when Time and Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report had as their cover stories the subject of welfare and the seeming intractable problem-- that at a time when the illegitimacy ratio in our country was one-third what it is today. The number of children born outside of marriage was one-third of what it is today. In 1992, it was 1.2 million. The ratio would be about 30 percent. It is about 33 percent today. That is the basic social condition that leads to this baffling problem. We are not alone, and it is important to know that. Just by happenstance, Mr. President, this week's issue of The Economist, a British ``newspaper,'' as they call it, has as its cover story, ``The Disappearing Family.'' They have a chart on page 26 called ``Fewer Gold Rings: Births to Unmarried Mothers as a Percentage of the Total.'' I find myself cited as the source. Indeed our office did do this work. Characteristically, the administration did nothing. Characteristically, the Department of Health and Human Services does nothing.”