Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, we should pass a welfare reform bill that is realistic about what people need to transition from welfare to good, paying, lasting jobs. It is in no one's best interest to see people transition from welfare to work and back onto welfare. If we underinvest in job training and child care and other support services, we are setting welfare reform up for failure and wasting money. The Democrat bill invests in permanent change. The Republican bill does not. From a public policy perspective, from a fiscal perspective, the Democratic bill makes sense. Transitional medical assistance is a program that provides health coverage for families leaving welfare. Individuals moving off welfare wind up in jobs that do not offer health coverage, or if it is offered, it is simply too expensive. Transitional medical assistance allows these families to keep Medicaid coverage so that getting a job does not mean giving up one's health insurance. The Republican bill only extends the TMA program for 1 year. There is no logic for that. It is temporary assistance, not a temporary program. The Democratic bill is up front about this and makes transitional Medicaid assistance permanent. Of added concern, Republicans would cut other parts of Medicaid in order to pay for this extension. It makes no sense to take coverage from some people so that others can keep it. It is illogical.”