Political Quotes

“I do not see anything in this amendment that is necessary. We already get a variety of information from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Labor Department, and a whole lot of other agencies with respect to statistical information with respect to poverty rates and a whole variety of other factors dealing with children in poverty. That information is compiled regularly and is made available to the Congress. So to have the Secretary of Health and Human Services redo that in some report as requested by the Senator from Minnesota seems to me to be unnecessary. If, in fact, the poverty statistics over the 2-year-period, as described in this legislation, show an increase in the poverty rate among children, I guarantee you that there will be Members, maybe from both sides of the aisle if it is dramatic, who will come here to the floor and will be looking to make some changes in the welfare program. I suggest we have seen increases in poverty with the current system on many occasions, almost continually over the past 30 years, and we have never done anything as dramatic as what the Senator from Minnesota is suggesting with this proposal. I think what we are seeing here is really nothing more than putting in some sort of structure in some very limited and constrained timing. Why not 2 years? Why not 5 years? Why not 1 year? It is hard to pull a number like 2 years out of the hat.”