Floyd Flake: “today I rise to introduce before the House the welfare bill to strengthen the families receiving aid to families with…”

“today I rise to introduce before the House the welfare bill to strengthen the families receiving aid to families with dependent children, through education, job training, savings, and investment opportunities and to provide States with greater flexibility in administering such aid in order to help individuals make the transition from welfare to employment and economic independence. I am hopeful we can correct the wrongs within the welfare system and that we do not forget, as we do so, the real lives of women and children who are at the bottom and left out and who are sometimes at the end of the process. In my role both as an urban minister, as a Member of this body, as a community developer in my district, I know firsthand the suffering and frustration for many families. It is, therefore, my hope that we can move families to the point where welfare is at worst a temporary condition and at best a former condition. With that, I ask my colleagues to join me in support of this welfare bill which I introduce today, and I seek cosponsors in hope that we will be able to change welfare as we know it.”