John Tierney: “Mr. Speaker, the Children's Defense Fund, which so many of us remember as the original individuals who doctored the…”

“Mr. Speaker, the Children's Defense Fund, which so many of us remember as the original individuals who doctored the slogan ``leave no child behind'' before it was so unceremoniously expropriated by our President for an education bill that he then went on and left all the children behind because he did not fund it, here we have a welfare bill where they ask recipients to go to work, but they do not give them the tools to really go to work that gets them out of poverty. I think that is why it is necessary to vote against this bill that the majority party is putting forward and look more seriously at the alternative being put in by the substitute by the Democrats. Essentially, we need to expand the educational opportunities for individuals that are trying to move from welfare to work to make sure that they have the tools to get a job that pays enough to lift their children out of poverty. Vocational training, postsecondary education, work study, internships, job training, English as a second language, GED courses, basic adult literacy, these are all tools necessary for people to be able to do work that, in fact, will pay. In my State of Massachusetts, we have a business community that understands this.”