John Kerry: “the welfare bill we passed this week would allow States to experiment with various welfare policies. Many States may…”

“the welfare bill we passed this week would allow States to experiment with various welfare policies. Many States may implement innovative welfare policies to move parents from welfare to work. But if we are sending Federal money to States, if we are going to take this risk and allow States to experiment, we must be sure that child poverty does not increase. There is nothing more important than constantly reminding ourselves that our focus is--or ought to be--this Nation's children. That was the focus when under Franklin Roosevelt's leadership title IV-A of the Social Security Act was originally enacted. The objective here is to help impoverished children. This bill I am introducing today says that if child poverty increases in a State after the date of enactment of the welfare bill, then that State would be required to submit a corrective action plan. Although a weaker version of my bill passed and was included in the welfare bill, I am introducing this as a separate bill in the hope that ultimately we will be able to pass the strongest possible version.”