Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in support of H.R. 2943, legislation to temporarily extend the authorization of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and related programs. Since it replaced the New Deal-era welfare program in 1996, TANF has been successful at cutting welfare dependents by 57 percent through the end of last year. Even more importantly, by promoting work among single parents, who are the most common welfare recipients, it helped significantly reduce child poverty in female-headed families over time. Even at today's elevated unemployment rates, TANF continues to promote more work and earnings and less poverty. But despite this general progress, TANF can and should be strengthened to do more, especially to help more low-income families work and support themselves in the years ahead. Unfortunately, too many parents are exempted from work requirements today for a variety of reasons we learned at a recent hearing held by the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources, which I am privileged to chair. But given the current administration's support for only a straight 1- year extension of current law, which is a view shared by the other body, there are limited prospects for making needed changes to TANF before the program expires at the end of this month. That's the reason for the short-term extension before us today.…”