The Bingaman amendment deals with a subject we have dealt with in the Daschle-Dole compromise. The Daschle-Dole compromise provided $100 million for drug treatment over the next 2 years. It was a compromise between what Senator Cohen and…

Aside from the administrative nightmare that would be created for the States to give them a block grant for some people and an entitlement for others and the administrative problem, this costs $1.4 billion over the next 7 years. As we have…

I hope Members listen to this because this is a gutting amendment. I heard a lot of comments on the other side of the aisle, even from the President, about how the Republican bill was weak on work. What the amendment of the Senator from…

if I can can respond to the Senator from Florida, what it says is that the Secretary shall consult with the States and establish a goal. It does not say what that goal is. It could be 2 percent. It could be 5 percent. It does not say…

Let me say there is always an excuse not to deal with this issue. If we do not adopt this amendment, there will be nothing on illegitimacy in this. We have heard great speeches, what an important problem this is. If we do not reject the…

I understand there may be such cases that you mention. But I think the broader point is whether, when we have people who have violated their responsibilities to their children, we should now create a separate Government program to train…

I question the rationale behind this. What this amendment says is, if you are a noncustodial parent you are eligible to participate in the job training and employment programs of the State. And you are eligible, if your child is receiving…

I have heard some speeches on the floor of the Senate and this ranks right up there. I do not know how you say--when the leader here is negotiating, in good faith, to in fact add more money into the child care fund--that somehow or another…

We will and have been working. I object to the fact that the Senator from Massachusetts stands up and says we are giving free day care here in the Congress, and we are providing it for our folks when, in fact, they pay for that day care…

I just suggest this really boils down to whether you really want to see dramatic reform or not and whether you want to see dramatic savings in the welfare system. Because, if you require States to keep 90 percent of maintenance of effort…

If we are going to require 80-percent maintenance of effort, how could there conceivably be a situation where New York, for example, where we are going to require New York with their maintenance of effort provision to actually contribute…

I think we had a good debate on the maintenance of effort provision. I think it boils down to simply this. If you want a welfare reform bill to come out of the Senate that is going to be an impetus for change, it is going to say to the…

the Senator from Louisiana keeps bringing up the point about the Federal Government contributing 100 percent, not having the benefit of any savings. I just suggest to you that if what we want to accomplish here is savings in the welfare…

Because we would like to see some innovation occur at the State level. We believe if you lock in the Federal contribution and give the States the opportunity to actually save dollars, that is the key. When you say, ``Well, the States can…

Yes. And the reason we lock in--reclaiming my time--the reason we lock in the number is because, as the Senator from Louisiana knows, if we did not block grant this program and did not reform this system and allowed what happened, for…

If I can reclaim my time, I say the answer is yes. I think we do that in this bill. In the Dole modified bill, we believe there are ample dollars available. Within the AFDC block grant, there will be money available for child care. You…

My understanding, if I can respond to the first point, is that the Senator from Connecticut has repeatedly said the formula was calculated based on fully funding every welfare parent who is required to work with children under 12. That…

If I can finish--that is what the Senator's amendment does. It focuses in on the problem areas. It says, if you cannot find day care, and if you can show that day care is unavailable, whether it is just too costly, given the amount of…

If I can reclaim my time, I will be happy to answer the question. It says on page 4 of the amendment, eligible children are-- For purposes of this section, the term ``eligible child'' means an individual, who is less than 13 years of age…

I wanted to congratulate the Senator from Connecticut for his very persuasive case on behalf of the need for child care and making workfare or welfare to work. I do not think anyone on this side of the aisle disagrees with the basic…

I want to go over this amendment again and discuss it specifically for Members who may be torn, as I think many are, in wanting to support work and see the potential need for day care. Focusing on what the amendment does, we have heard a…

The Senator is right, the AFDC dollars remain flat. When I talk about the 70-percent increase, I talk about all the means-tested entitlement programs included in this bill.

The AFDC program is block granted at a flat level, the Senator is right. But, obviously, there are a lot of other support services and means-tested programs that will continue to grow. The point I tried to make is that with respect to…

My understanding is, under the current proposal, that money is a block grant to the States with the States' discretion to provide those funds.

I would say to the Senator again in the Dole bill as recently modified there is a provision that States have to do 75 percent maintenance of effort over 3 years. There really is no attempt to race to the bottom. I do not know how many…