Dave Camp: “Today Congress is again attempting to end welfare as we know it. Over the last 19 months, my colleagues and I have twice…”

“Today Congress is again attempting to end welfare as we know it. Over the last 19 months, my colleagues and I have twice written, debated, and adopted welfare reform legislation only to have our efforts vetoed by the President. How many more families will be trapped in the current system while time wastes in Washington? Our current welfare system has deprived hope, diminished opportunity and destroyed lives. After 30 years and billions and billions of dollars, I ask, has the Federal Government solved the problems of poverty and dependency? Just spending more money on the Washington welfare system will not work. Just spending more money on the current system will not help children. We need to start over. The bill before us today is a fresh start. It accomplishes five important goals for welfare reform. First, it requires work in exchange for benefits. It encourages independence and self-reliance for able-bodied people. To help those that work, the bill provides more child care funding than current law and more than the President's proposal for working families. We have a moral obligation to improve the lives of our children, and we must do all we can to change the culture of poverty that our current welfare laws have created. Second, this legislation also time limits welfare benefits to 5 years.”