Randy Tate: “To me welfare reform is not about balancing the budget. It has nothing to do with that, from my perspective. It is about…”

“To me welfare reform is not about balancing the budget. It has nothing to do with that, from my perspective. It is about helping people that are trapped in a system that has destroyed their self-esteem, that is taking their initiative away, that has trapped families and hurt children. We have spent, I have heard that number many times, $5 trillion since the 1960s. If we put that in real dollars, that is more than we spent fighting the Japanese and Germans during World War II, and we won that battle. Everyone agrees welfare has failed. President Clinton said just right here during his State of the Union that this is the year to end welfare as we know it. Today, in the House of Representatives, we began to end welfare as we know it, not for the sake of balancing the budget, not sitting there and counting beans. It is about helping people. That is what this whole debate is about, breaking down the system to make it work for people again, to help families, to help moms, to help dads, to help kids have a better future.”