Rick Lazio: “Mr. Chairman, we are now near the end, I believe, of consideration of amendments to H.R. 2, and at this point I think it…”

“Mr. Chairman, we are now near the end, I believe, of consideration of amendments to H.R. 2, and at this point I think it is appropriate that we reflect on the fact that the central tenets of the bill and the themes of the bill are left intact by one of the actions of the House to this point, and that is mainly to create an environment where we can begin to successfully address core issues of poverty. H.R. 2 says, in a very significant way, that we will not be able to end poverty or legislate the end of poverty from Washington or from any of the State capitols. In fact, if we are to make progress in our war against poverty, if we are to begin to transform communities, if we are to begin to empower communities and individuals and families, that will happen because we create the right set of incentives for responsibility, for work, for family, for economic development, for jobs, for empowerment, for rebuilding communities.”