Political Quotes

“I rise and thank the gentlewoman from California [Ms. Woolsey] for requesting these special orders tonight on child support enforcement, and commend her for her leadership here in the Congress, and also for cochairing the Task Force on Welfare Reform. Mr. Speaker, I was disturbed to read the other day what the Associated Press article is showing from the National Center for Children in Poverty. Six million children under the age of 6 were found to live in poverty in 1992. I certainly would like to say to my colleagues, those of us who serve on the Subcommittee on Human Resources of the Committee on Ways and Means, the Personal Responsibility Act that excluded child support enforcement, we applaud and commend the chairman, Clay Shaw, for now saying that he will include child support enforcement. But women in this Congress, both Democrats and Republicans alike, are making sure that we respond to this component of the welfare reform package. Emphasis should be placed on reducing poverty by keeping families together, enforcing child support obligations, as well as promoting self-sufficiency, assisting with day care and transportation, and providing education, training, and work incentives that are needed. Ignoring child support enforcement sends the wrong message in America. It says that a noncustodial parent who is one-half responsible for the birth of a child does not have any responsibility for that child at all.”