Jon L. Christensen: “I rise to speak on H. Res. 525, expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should pass a welfare…”

“I rise to speak on H. Res. 525, expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should pass a welfare bill before September 30th. The Welfare Reform bill is among the most significant and important pieces of legislation that this Congress will consider. While there is a sense of urgency to adopt legislation on Welfare Reform this year, September 30th is less than 2 weeks away and Congress should not rush to pass such an important bill. We should take as much time as is necessary to work on the bill. The Republican base bill which did not allow for amendments, would increase poverty instead of reducing it, as it purports to do. The bill, in its present form, imposes massive new mandates and additional costs on States at a time when States are struggling financially and cannot absorb not one penny more of new costs. In my district, the U.S. Virgin Islands, our Department of Health and Human Services is under threat of strict penalties for lack of job placements. Jobs are simply not as available as they were when the original Welfare Reform bill was passed. And let's not forget that our economy is still recovering from the aftermath of September 11th and that Congress has not passed any economic stimulus legislation, except for the Airline bailout bill. This country's offshore areas, would be particularly negatively impacted, because of even less resources, and poor economic conditions with fewer jobs within geographical limitations.”