Blake Moore: “I thank you so much, Mr. Speaker. I raise this point of order, not necessarily out of concern for unfunded mandates…”

“I thank you so much, Mr. Speaker. I raise this point of order, not necessarily out of concern for unfunded mandates, although there are some in the underlying bills under consideration here today, H.J. Res. 118 and H.R. 3409. Rather, I am here today because this is the only opportunity to voice my adamant opposition to the TANF-related resolution of disapproval, H.J. Res. 118, given the strict closed terms of our debate today. My goal here today, Mr. Speaker, is to be a voice of reason, and certainly a voice of truth in this debate, because we are all undoubtedly about to hear an astonishing array of half truths and, Mr. Speaker, even lies about the Temporary Assistance For Needy Families program or TANF--the lie, for example, that the TANF program was this raving success that took people out of poverty, gave them dignity and put them in good jobs. Well, what it really did was to really kick poor people off the rolls. You know, under President Clinton, 1996, when we passed the original TANF bill, it was a time of prosperity; and those people, primarily women, who would normally get off the rolls within 2 years, found jobs which were readily available. But even more, primarily women, just simply languished in poverty as a permanent underclass. {time} 1240 Despite the creation of the so-called ``safety net'' under TANF, many, many women have languished in poverty and are still in poverty today. We're not just talking about the poor. We're talking about deep poverty. Mr.…”