Jennifer Dunn: “I want to switch the discussion to welfare, because welfare reform is included in this balanced budget resolution.…”

“I want to switch the discussion to welfare, because welfare reform is included in this balanced budget resolution. During the past 30 years, the Federal Government has spent more than $5 trillion on welfare programs intended to alleviate poverty, but the problem is getting worse, not better. The system is getting more and more cruel. Today one American child in seven is raised on welfare. That is what this budget debate is all about: the children and their families. The current welfare system encourages a life of dependency and weak families, and that has a devastatingly negative effect on a child's development. Every one of us feels sick when we read in the paper, we see on television the real life stories of how the current welfare system has failed. Think of this: 19 children found together in a cold, dark Chicago apartment. Police found them sharing a bone with the family dog for food. Or the Boston family that has 14 out of its 17 adult children now living on welfare, right now, and receiving close to $1 million a year from taxpayers. Our solutions are focused on promoting families and work, moving families into the work force and off welfare is the only way to break this cycle of dependency. Most Americans on welfare want to work, but, sadly, our Government offers them a better short-run deal to stay dependent. To make our approach work, the amount of time someone stays on welfare must be limited. Our bill does that.”