Kay Bailey Hutchison: “I want to talk today about welfare reform. Now you may say, ``My goodness, why are you talking about welfare reform? We…”

“I want to talk today about welfare reform. Now you may say, ``My goodness, why are you talking about welfare reform? We passed that last year.'' It is true, Congress passed welfare reform last year. We said to the States, ``We want you to run your own programs. We're going to send you less money so that you will have the ability to be more efficient and make up for the dollars that we are not sending you from the Federal Government by efficiencies in your State programs.'' We said to the States, ``We're going to cut the strings. You're not going to have to come to Washington every time you turn around. And that will give you the ability to enact the programs that your States need to operate in a more efficient way.'' Mr. President, the States said, ``Hallelujah, we're going full steam ahead.'' The problem is, this administration is thwarting the attempts of State after State to do the job we asked them to do. Mr. President, today the State of Texas has been waiting for 170 days, 5 months, for a clearance to run its welfare program in a more efficient way. The Governor of Texas has said it is costing our State $10 million a month because they are waiting for Federal approval so that they can go out and get bids.…”