José E. Serrano: “if self-sufficiency can be defined as raising a family just on or below the poverty level, with little or no chance of…”

“if self-sufficiency can be defined as raising a family just on or below the poverty level, with little or no chance of increasing earning potential because the breadwinner is not equipped with competitive education or job training, then I agree with my colleagues that 1996 welfare reform has been a success. If self-sufficiency means earning a median hourly wage of $6.61 or $13,788 annually, as the Urban Institute reported former welfare recipients earned in 2000, in jobs that 60% of time do not provide health care benefits, according to NOW, then I agree with my colleagues that welfare reform has been a resounding success. However, I am reluctant to believe that my colleagues would consider any of those circumstances to be anything near self-sufficiency and therefor I implore you to rethink this idea that welfare reform has been genuinely successful. The goal of welfare reform should be to create a system that promotes self-sufficiency, not just lower numbers on the rolls and higher numbers in low-wage, unstable jobs. H.R. 4737 provides a short term solution to a long term problem. We should not be battling welfare dependency as much as we should be battling poverty. H.R. 4737 will only encourage pushing recipients off the rolls and into the league of the working poor, under-educated and constantly struggling to make ends meet. So that one negative circumstance, one set-back, such as illness or domestic violence, could see them plummeting back into poverty.”