Glenn English: “Mr. Speaker, since we first overhauled this country's failed welfare system back in 1996, some three million children…”

“Mr. Speaker, since we first overhauled this country's failed welfare system back in 1996, some three million children have risen out of poverty. Today I rise to support this legislation as an important transition to the full reauthorization of those important reforms. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the number of American children experiencing hunger has plummeted to half its number of what it was in 1995. When States and local governments shifted their focus from writing checks to encouraging work, welfare case loads fell by 60 percent, as we predicted. As a result, 3.5 million fewer Americans live their lives in poverty than was the case back in 1995 when this process started. However, some 2 million recipients remain dependent on welfare assistance, and many still do not participate in work or in training programs. While the success of past welfare reform initiatives are inspiring, and give lie to some of the claims we heard when we went through this process made by the other side, it is obvious that more work still needs to be done.”