Political Quotes

“there is good news to announce on the floor of the House today. The good news basically is that all of those who have, over the last 30 some years, generated an unworkable welfare program, have now come to the floor and admitted that it does not work. Well, obviously, anyone knew it was not going to work if the idea was to help Americans get a part of the American dream. It certainly worked very well if the intention was to make sure that millions of Americans would become wards of the State and never have an opportunity to get part of the American dream. I want to point out some of the things that came from our committee, because they have been misrepresented, and why I feel so strongly that the Republican proposal is the way to go. First of all, we designed the program with several things in mind. We said welfare must be a safety net, not a way of life. There must be very clear emphasis on work and on getting those on welfare into work. We need to stop abuses of the system. We need to return power and flexibility to the States because they have a better idea of how to handle it than we do. Welfare should not encourage, it should discourage destructive personal behavior that contributes so clearly to welfare dependence as sell as a host of other social problems. Now, let me talk briefly about the bill. Under our bill, States must ensure an increasing percentage of their caseload as participating in work activities.”