John Shaw: “I might tell the gentleman that the welfare reform bill has probably been the most single successful piece of…”

“I might tell the gentleman that the welfare reform bill has probably been the most single successful piece of legislation that has passed this Congress in decades. Thousands of people, hundreds of thousands of people, are leaving the welfare rolls. Unfortunately, so many of our liberal legislators could not really see that these people had a self-worth, and really all they needed was a little bit of a shove and incentive to go out and do the right thing, and to find a job. We have found that nowhere in our history have we seen the rolls fall as they have, no matter what the prosperity, as they have over the last year and a half. It is absolutely phenomenal. He says the limitation has not gone into effect. People know that the limitation is in effect in many of the States who are far ahead of the curve. His own State of Massachusetts, as well as Wisconsin and Michigan and Indiana, Delaware, these States have been very progressive in welfare reform, and their rolls, the people on welfare, have dropped considerably. Mr. Chairman, I would say to have faith in the poor of this country. Just because somebody is poor does not mean that that person is not out there looking for a job. The question is, is welfare reform working.”