Orrin Hatch: “three times in the last year we have stood on this floor to debate welfare reform. The first time, the bill passed the…”

“three times in the last year we have stood on this floor to debate welfare reform. The first time, the bill passed the Senate by a large bipartisan majority, 87 to 12. Yet, the President has vetoed it. He has since vetoed welfare reform legislation twice more. Today, we are standing here again. We have yet again passed legislation to reform a failed and broken welfare system, a system which has dragged the most vulnerable of our population into a pit of dependency. We must stop this cycle. We must give these families the hope and help they deserve. This legislation would do just that. This legislation reforms the old system into a new one. This legislation will take a system of degrading, esteem depleting handouts and transform it into a transitional system of support that helps families gain work experience, training, and self-sufficiency. This bill creates a system that gives beneficiaries a leg up and not a shove down. In watching the Olympic long-distance cycling event a few nights ago, my heart went out to those athletes who had trained so hard, but who had hit 'the wall,' that point in an endurance contest when the goal seems overwhelming and when it seems impossible to take another step or pedal another foot. Mr. President, many of our welfare recipients under our current system have faced the wall.”