Political Quotes

“I want to thank the gentlewoman from California for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise to join my colleague from Missouri in asking my colleagues to support H.R. 430 and to vote ``yes'' on this legislation. Now, this is just a short-term, 6-month extension of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program because we could not sign off on the negotiated 2-year extension from the omnibus. Therefore, the program has lapsed, and it is imperative that we move this legislation quickly, get it cleared through the House, sent over to the Senate, and signed into law. Needy Americans are relying on us to do this. There are several States that have absolutely no TANF dollars, zero carryover funds to insulate against the prospect that this reckless shutdown will persist and impact our most vulnerable citizens. While my State is not one of the 23 States that have less than one quarter of Federal TANF funding in reserve, our reserve is not gigantic. At the current spend-down rate of funds in Wisconsin, we are projecting that these funds will only last until early May, so this is of some urgency. Just let me remind you, Mr. Speaker, about the importance of extending this program.…”