Political Quotes

“I will be offering a unanimous consent request to try to move forward on welfare reform and try to move this vitally important issue that affects millions of Americans out of the Senate and toward passage of an extension. Today, the House is going to pass an extension, and I hope we will also. I think it is unfortunate that we are left in the position that we are not able to pass a welfare reform bill in the Senate, in spite of the fact that an amendment on the underlying bill passed $1.2 billion in new daycare spending. That has always been the mantra of those who oppose welfare reform and work requirements, that there wasn't enough money for daycare. Yet $1.2 billion was added to the welfare bill, and we had attempt after attempt to move that bill to conference. So far, we have not been able to do so. As a result, we are here for another extension. We have had several extensions over the last 2 years. The problem with these extensions--let me make this point--is that the current welfare system was put into place in 1996. It had very tough work requirements. It had work requirements that were tied to caseload reduction. What happened is we have had such a successful program over the last 8 years that almost all of the States have met their caseload reduction and therefore no longer have work requirements.”