Herb Kohl: “I rise in strong support, and as an original cosponsor, of the amendment by the Senator from Connecticut. I agree with…”

“I rise in strong support, and as an original cosponsor, of the amendment by the Senator from Connecticut. I agree with much of what is in the welfare legislation before us today and I plan to vote on it. We owe it to the low-income families of this country to end a welfare system that keeps them down rather than helps them up. We owe it to the taxpayers to spend their money in a way that strengthens their communities. We owe it to ourselves to be honest when we have failed--as we have with our current welfare system. And we owe it to this country to develop a welfare system that respects and encourages this Nation's longstanding values of work and family. I think this bill, on the whole, does that, and that is why I support it. But before we send this bill out of the Senate, there is room for improvement. One of my chief concerns with this bill is the unwise elimination of the bipartisan, minimal Federal standards that govern the quality of child care. We ought to be doing exactly the opposite. Not only does the repeal of safety standards jeopardize quality of care for children from welfare families, it threatens child care safety for all children. Children of families from all income levels benefit from the current health and safety standards. We need to return welfare to the States because the Federal program has proven itself a disaster. But turning the program over does not mean turning our backs on the people and communities welfare is meant to help.”