Michael Synar: “Good evening. Tonight the Democrats will not defend the status quo. Democrats believe that welfare must and is being…”

“Good evening. Tonight the Democrats will not defend the status quo. Democrats believe that welfare must and is being changed to encourage marriage, reward work, strengthen families. Welfare ought to be a bridge to new opportunities, not a parking lot. Our reforms stress work, demand responsibility from fathers, and place tough expectations on young unwed mothers. But you know, too often in these debates we let the myths and our prejudices about welfare cloud the facts. Some of them are true, but many of them are not. Tonight, once and for all, let us set the record straight. Fact No. 1, over two-thirds of all welfare recipients are children, with an average age of 7 years old. Nearly 14 million children, our Nation's future, live in poverty without hope this very night. Fact No. 2, the faces of a family on welfare look a lot like yours and mine. The vast majority of people on welfare have one to two children, live in private homes, leave the welfare system within 2 years, and are as likely to be white as black. Fact No. 3, no one gets rich on welfare. The average welfare benefit in this country is $367 for a family of three. And Federal spending for welfare is less than 1 percent of our general spending each year. The Democrats recognize that the current welfare system must be reshaped in order to move people from poverty to work. However, we reject the proposition that welfare has done more harm than good.”