Political Quotes

“I am one of those who supported the welfare reform bill in 1996, and I think we made the right decision in 1996. I am proud of the progress that we have made for people who are on welfare to try to get them out of the need of cash assistance and get them to real jobs. I was somewhat surprised because I heard, on one hand, the Republican leadership talk with pride of what we have accomplished during the past 6 years, but then I look at the bill that they have recommended, the underlying bill before us, and I see that they scrap and dismantle the system that we have put in place in 1996. They ignore the lessons learned over the past 6 years. Over the past 6 years we have learned that if we give the States flexibility and if we give the States the resources, they can get the job done. Instead, the bill before us is a Washington one-size-fits-all, Washington-knows-best mandate on the States. Every welfare recipient is not the same. The States need the ability of flexibility to determine what is best. This bill does not do it.”