Lloyd Doggett

We believe requiring States to spend a substantial--a specific share of their TANF resources on core purposes is essential for improving TANF work programs.

We are pleased today to get additional input on the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, and how it may be reformed.

This morning's hearing begins to look, in a more sophisticated way, like the standard Republican stump speech, that the only thing that is wrong is that people, poor people, don't work hard enough, and that bureaucrats get in the way with…

The real--the complete statement should be there won't be a 20 percent benefit cut, because we are planning to find some other way to cut disability payments to make up for what would be necessary to avoid a 20 percent payment cut.

I suppose it is encouraging that this hearing began with Chairman Ryan telling us not to worry about the prospects of a 20 percent, across-the-board benefit cut for disability recipients next year.

They don't respond to economic trouble.

They go down over time. TANF is down by 40 percent.

They risk turning back the successes of the safety net and making the work issues worse.

The block-headed approach of giving States like Texas that are rejectionist States, that have rejected the Affordable Care Act...

Likely create the very death spirals that Congress designed the Act to avoid.

Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them.

When Lyndon Johnson declared war on poverty, he got underway programs that have changed the lives of millions of Americans for the better.

I want to begin by commending the National Association of Manufacturers, the Business Roundtable, the Alliance for Competitive Taxation, and the National Retail Federation for speaking out this week against repatriation as a means of…

These various repatriation proposals are certainly a loser for the United States Treasury.

``Asleep at the Wheel'' is a great Texas swing band, but it is a horrible philosophy for trade law enforcement. Reject this rule; help us get a better trade policy; protect American families; and advance our economy. We can do better than…

You served both on the Intelligence Committee and on the Rules Committee. There is reason to authorize intelligence, but am I correct it has nothing to do with this sneak attack to put in a postponement that has never been done in American…

And understand what that means. Understand that they are looking for the ideal time--morning, noon, or night--to muscle through a broken trade policy that a majority of this House and of the American people do not want. This rule provides…

Too often, the USTR simply does not believe in law enforcement. It wouldn't enforce the law in Guatemala and Honduras under prior labor agreements. In Peru, it ignored the audit responsibility that it had. We can do better than this. We…

If today we are asking you about how to make improvements to reach more people in our laws, that would be a reasonable thing, instead of the polemics that are going on here.

The easiest thing for this Court to do, and I think the right thing, is to not ignore the other 900 pages of the law and focus solely on four words.

I would hope to focus on how we can make it better and how we can make the implementation better.

It seems to me that the focus of this hearing and the focus of all of our work should be on how we can make this healthcare system work better and deliver services and insure more families instead of speculating about some Court decision.

I think all of us agree our safety net programs have to reflect our values.

I am as outraged as anyone by the notion that someone who's incarcerated is getting public benefits...

These are crucial steps with bipartisan support, and I would urge Congress to swiftly pass these important legislation.