Jim Sensenbrenner: “This substitute is really a cop-out, because what it does is it punts the ball right back to the bureaucrats in the…”

“This substitute is really a cop-out, because what it does is it punts the ball right back to the bureaucrats in the office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services. It does not compel the Secretary and the bureaucrats to approve the submittal that has been made by the Governor of Wisconsin. It allows the Secretary to cherry-pick and approve some and modify others and disapprove others, which means that the whole W-2 welfare reform plan that was passed by the State legislature does not get approved, and it does not even set up an automatic deadline as I read this. It just urges the Secretary to do it by the end of July. There is precedent for legislatively approving welfare waivers that have been requested by the States and I referred to 3 instances during my remarks in general debate: In 1987 Washington State welfare waivers were legislatively approved in a budget reconciliation bill as were New York waivers. In 1989 Minnesota had some waivers legislatively approved. That is exactly the same procedure that we are using here today with the waivers that have been requested by the State of Wisconsin.”