Pete Domenici: “just so we make it clear, the Senator from New Mexico is not telling anybody, any State, any program or putting together…”

“just so we make it clear, the Senator from New Mexico is not telling anybody, any State, any program or putting together a State program, any legislator, individually or collectively anywhere in America that they have to continue cash benefits to a mother who is on welfare who has another child. All I am suggesting is that while we are busy structuring a new program, we ought to take advice from people like Governor Engler, who has led the way in terms of Medicaid reform at the local level, and welfare reform, when he suggests that we ought to leave this up to the States. So all I am doing is adding to the voucher system--substituting for that voucher system a permissive payment of cash benefits by the States, if they choose that as part of their plan, and if they think that is better in the overall prevention and assistance to welfare mothers who have another child. I believe the argument is on the side of prudence, on the side of using some rationale. Let us give the program a chance to work, and let us not dictate up here, as we are prone to do when we do not know the results.”