Political Quotes

“The bill which Mr. Young brings to the floor this afternoon concerns five-tenths of 1 percent of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. I want to talk about the other 99.5 percent, and I will address the 0.5 percent--the five-tenths--a little later. Overall, this legislation perpetuates the myth of compassionate conservatism that was originally spun by George W. Bush. It involves a Republican strategy that we have seen over the last few weeks to block every single Democratic proposal that would reform welfare to work, or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families as it is formally known. I favor full reform of TANF, to pursue the original objectives of the 1996 welfare reform that I supported to end generational poverty and help poor Americans who are not physically able to work. TANF would permit them to climb up the economic ladder into the middle class while supporting those who are unable to work. Instead, what we are presented is one modest, unproven social experiment paid for at the expense of poor children. Over the last 20 years, the total resources that are available to get people from welfare to work have steadily declined. Today's legislation is just one more small cut to those resources. Republicans previously terminated one major part of TANF that helped States with poor populations, like Texas, whacking out $319 million from the program.…”