Political Quotes

“Today, the first day of the 104th Congress, Senators Kassebaum, Bennett and I are introducing our bill to reform our welfare system. This bill adheres to two fundamental principles: First, welfare programs designed and administered by Washington, D.C. do not meet the needs of our citizens, and second, Federal mandates on our States cost money, create huge bureaucracies and grow without solving the problems. This bill returns to the States the responsibility to design and administer welfare programs, but it does so without Federal strings. As Senator Kassebaum has described, our bill gives States complete control and responsibility for three of the largest welfare programs: Aid to Families with Dependent Children [AFDC], Food Stamps, and the Women, Infants and Children [WIC] Nutrition Program. Currently, States administer these programs under an impossibly complex, and often conflicting and contradictory, set of Federal and State rules. To free up State funds to assume full responsibility for these programs, this proposal has the Federal Government assume more of the cost of the Medicaid Program.”