Political Quotes

“while welfare caseloads have dropped dramatically, the decrease in poverty is marginally less. After 5 years, welfare cash assistance caseloads have decreased by nearly 50 percent, but overall poverty has declined by less than 2 percent. Today we are going to be visiting this issue of what to do about welfare in America. Work is at the center of the welfare debate, and it was at the center of the debate in 1996. The work requirements are the most significant part of the debate. If States choose or are mandated a 40 hour a week work requirement, that will mean workfare programs. Workfare is overwhelmingly bad for recipients. It will mean the need for even more child care, on top of the $11 billion that is in the bill now, and it will undermine efforts to place people in good jobs. We need to be very careful in any vote that we take today to make sure that we are not making it impossible for families who are trying to get off of welfare to be able to have the resources that they will need to be able to care for their children.”