Jim Inhofe: “I think earlier today we missed an opportunity. It seemingly went by unnoticed when an amendment was offered that…”

“I think earlier today we missed an opportunity. It seemingly went by unnoticed when an amendment was offered that addressed a very sensitive area and an essential element of welfare reform, and that is a recognition that it has become a snowballing effect that a family that has welfare problems, or is on the welfare rolls, quite often the next generation comes down and is also inflicted with this same problem. This was in the amendment offered by Senator Faircloth, No. 2609. I regret that it only received 17 votes on the floor of the Senate, and yet, I do recognize it is a very sensitive issue to deal with. We have become and found ourselves in a situation in this country where it is a welfare trap and snares not only current recipients, but their children as well. Young women who grow up in welfare families are more than twice as likely to receive welfare themselves as their counterparts whose parents received no welfare. I have three very short cases I will identify. These happen to come from the State of Oklahoma. They will only be identified by the individual's first names. There is Marie, a 43-year-old, has nine kids by five different fathers. The mother was on welfare for 30 years. Marie's own daughters are unwed teen mothers on welfare. Denise, 29 years old, had her first child at 16. She now has an additional four daughters, all born under the welfare system. Both her sisters are unwed welfare mothers with eight children.”