Don Nickles: “Franklin Roosevelt once said: The lessons of history, confirmed by evidence immediately before me, show conclusively…”

“Franklin Roosevelt once said: The lessons of history, confirmed by evidence immediately before me, show conclusively that continued dependence upon relief induces a spiritual and moral disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fiber. To dole out relief in this way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was exactly right. We have induced a spiritual and moral disintegration of fundamental destructive values, and it has been destructive to our national fiber; it has been destructive to the family. We have a welfare system that does not work. Since President Lyndon Johnson launched the war on poverty in 1965, welfare spending has cost U.S. taxpayers about $5.4 trillion. Tragically, as Roosevelt predicted, this culturally destructive system has heightened the plight of the poor in this country, discouraging work and marriage. Today, one child in seven is raised on welfare through the Aid to Families with Dependent Children Program. Nearly a third of the children in the United States are now born to single mothers. The number of children on AFDC has tripled between 1965 and 1992, even though the total number of children in the United States declined by 5.5 percent. To fix this system, we must drastically change it.”