To answer your question, as the Senator from North Dakota knows, the State of Florida during the time of Hurricane Andrew was eligible for disaster assistance, and that covers a variety of things. Having just gone through that in…

I do not understand why the opt out is such a bad idea. The fact is that what you want to accomplish is to put them back into the main program.

I do not think that would be correct. If the person is no longer eligible for AFDC, what you are suggesting is they should keep working in a low-wage job just for the purposes of keeping Medicaid and not try to get a promotion where you…

After the fifth year they are no longer eligible. As the Senator from California knows they are eligible, after a 5-year period, to apply for citizenship. Once they apply for citizenship and are accepted, they would again be eligible if…

I said, what you are suggesting is that someone who is no longer on AFDC but is Medicaid eligible because of this grandfathering is not going to have an incentive to take a better job, potentially with benefits, potentially with…

These are people who are not on AFDC anymore. These are people who are working, because if they were on AFDC, they would be included under the new program.

For the Senator to suggest the Feinstein amendment does not touch it is not accurate. You say it does not apply to anybody here, so you would remove all the provisions of this act with respect to people in this country.

I thank the Chair. First, let me say, Mr. President, that we have had votes on block grants here in the Senate in the past. We had one on the bill last year. In fact, when it came out of the Agriculture Committee, there was no block grant…

before I speak about the welfare bill, I just want to express my condolences to the people of Montoursville, PA. As many of you know, the crash of TWA Flight 800 included French students from that high school in Montoursville, along with…

It is important to set that standard. We set that standard. We do it with the understanding that we know not everybody can meet that standard. We give the States and the communities, and, I hope, and the Governors assure me, this is not…

let me move on to the issue before us of welfare reform. It is never easy to follow the Senator from New York when talking about this issue, because there is no one on the Senate floor who knows more about this issue than the Senator from…

The second question is on the vouchers issue, and the Senator from Louisiana, while he responded to a question was not responding to my question. He was responding to the provision in his amendment, not the provision in the amendment…

I would respond by saying, as the Senator from Connecticut knows, we are talking about originally 25 percent of the AFDC population, able-bodied AFDC population----

We did in the bill, as we did in the bill that passed 87 to 12 on this floor, allow States the option to take a block grant for food stamps, the option which was again approved by 87 votes on this floor.

I can tell you while there are vouchers for the children, the parents get the vouchers. The parents spend the money for the children.

Just one of the reasons we had more savings than the ag bill is because we had to meet a specific target in the last year. And to meet that target, we had to cut a little bit more than we needed to in the first few years to meet the…

I want to respond to the speeches about the Work First Act. This is, from what I can tell, an 800-page amendment that has been submitted without giving anyone on the other side a preview of that amendment, or any kind of opportunity to…

I suggest the current system reflects that all the care that has been expressed for children, here, has not panned out into a reality that children are cared for. That is the real issue. We can all care about children. The question is, are…

If they take the option for the block grant, they can design this program, which has to be approved by the Secretary, of course. I am sure there are going to be some limitations on that.

I would say one thing. No. 1, under the Republican bill that family still is eligible for food stamps. That family is still eligible for food stamps; still eligible for other medical benefits and other kinds of welfare services. What they…

That bill came through the Finance Committee. You are on that committee. You saw it when it came through that committee. You had the markup when this came through the committee. You have the markup document before you, No. 1. No. 2, let me…

The State determines the minimal safety and the Federal Government has no oversight?

You say all children will receive day care. I will read from it. ``To help recipients get and keep a job, child care will be made available to all those required to work.'' That sounds like a quasi-entitlement.

No. There is mandate. But I would suspect, knowing the Governors I have talked to on this issue, if they are going to come to the point where they are going to end cash assistance, they are not going to take food stamp benefits away. In…

Yes--going into this system, increasing up to 70 percent over the next 5 years. Within that category, 20 percent are exempted for hardship. That means they can go beyond the 5 years and still receive Federal dollars after 5 years. We are…