Frank Lautenberg: “this is a historic and unfortunate time for the U.S. Senate. This body is on the verge of ending a 60 year guarantee…”

“this is a historic and unfortunate time for the U.S. Senate. This body is on the verge of ending a 60 year guarantee that poor children in this country would not starve. For 60 years, we could rest easier at night knowing children across the country had a minimal safety net. The bill before us will take away this peace of mind and throw up to 1.5 million children into poverty. Mr. President, I agree that the welfare system is in need of repair. I believe that it needs to help promote work and self sufficiency. I think it should also protect children. Unfortunately, the Republican welfare bill does none of this. First, the Republican bill does not promote work. The bill calls for work requirements for welfare recipients, but it does not provide the resources to put people to work. In fact, the CBO said that "Most states would be unlikely to satisfy this [work] requirement for several reasons." One major reason is that this bill cuts funding for work programs by combining all welfare programs into a capped block grant. Second, the Republican bill hurts children. It would make deep cuts in the Food Stamp Program which millions of children rely on for their nutritional needs. It would also end the guarantee that children will always have a safety net. Under the Republican bill, a State could adopt a 60-day time limit and after that the children would be cut off from the safety net entirely.”