Lee Terry: “Four times. Well, the gentleman had a little trouble convincing some other people of the importance of not only helping…”

“Four times. Well, the gentleman had a little trouble convincing some other people of the importance of not only helping people up out of poverty by teaching them special skills so they could become employed, but also on such important issues as teaching abstinence to our children. It confuses me. I was simply a city councilman in 1996 when the gentleman were wrestling with this issue and facing several vetoes by the White House then. But I appreciate that the gentleman continued to persevere through those and eventually triumph, because I really feel it has been an important message to our youth that we adopt this Title V program where we have a specific, and let me stress that, a specific program to teach abstinence to our youth. It is the first time, as I understand, that Congress did this, in 1996. I would assume that the Congress did it for the good-hearted and compassionate reason that when we want to lift people out of poverty, it is hard when we are trying to help a teenage mother out of poverty. If anything locks someone into their current status of poverty, it is having a child when one is 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 years old. So it was certainly the compassionate thing to do, and I appreciate that. It is just unbelievable to me now, entering my fourth year of Congress, and, again, I was not here in 1996, but that we are having these same battles again. It is just unbelievable when we look at the importance of such a program.”