Larry Pressler: “In 1935 Franklin Roosevelt had the foresight to realize that a welfare system that replaces real work with handouts was…”

“In 1935 Franklin Roosevelt had the foresight to realize that a welfare system that replaces real work with handouts was doomed to fail the very individuals it was intended to assist. In FDR's own words, The lessons of history * * * show conclusively that continued dependence upon relief induces a spiritual and moral disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fiber. To dole out relief in this way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit. I am pleased that America's long, costly drug addiction to the easy, insidious welfare drug may be beginning to end today. Destructive generational dependency, illegitimacy, fraud, waste, abuse, and neglect soon will be replaced with greater self-sufficiency, responsibility and pride. The bill before us would change the welfare system and the lives of many Americans for the better. Welfare was meant to be a safety net, not a way of life. This bill would restore the values of personal responsibility and self-sufficiency by making work, not Government benefits, the centerpiece of public welfare policy.”