Sean Patrick Maloney: “I rise really in support of the Mink amendment. My office keeps a scorecard on the legislative attempts to take programs…”

“I rise really in support of the Mink amendment. My office keeps a scorecard on the legislative attempts to take programs and benefits away from women. Unfortunately, we are chalking up another attack today. It is not as if we are asking for new funding. All we want is continued funding at this year's level, and the continuation of programs that work. Displaced homemakers, single parents, pregnant women, and some girls in vocational schools are all populations at risk. Why shut them out? Why, at the same time we are trying to get women off welfare rolls, are we eliminating the very programs that will help them get off welfare rolls? In Oregon a recent study documented its long-term success in increasing employment rates from 28 percent to 71 percent. Wages increased; 14 percent of the women on welfare got off welfare. There is so much to fix, Mr. Chairman, that is broken. Let us not try to fix what is not broken. Let us continue funding for this program.”