Political Quotes

“it's a pleasure to participate in today's special order by the freshman class welfare reform task force. I want to compliment my fellow members of the task force who have worked hard to develop a list of welfare reform principles to serve as an underpinning for President Clinton's welfare reform package. This legislation will be introduced later this year. My intent here is to discuss the welfare reform components of education and training. But before I do that let me underscore why welfare reform is needed. My home State of Pennsylvania and other States have had problems with the overpayment of welfare benefits. A State audit earlier this year revealed that the welfare recipients in Beaver County, PA which is in my congressional district, had been overpaid by nearly $500,000 over a 3-year period. Spread across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania these overpayments-- blamed on the State welfare personnel and not on the welfare recipients themselves--have cost the taxpayers millions. These overpayments simply are not acceptable. Any comprehensive welfare reform package has to inject efficiency and fiscal responsibility into the delivery system so these overpayments do not happen in the future. Mr. Speaker, our welfare system does not work. It has institutionalized government handouts and it has discouraged working. Welfare--once a temporary safety net--now is a lifestyle passed from one generation to another.”