[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 6 (Tuesday, February 1, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 1, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                         WELFARE REFORM A MUST

                                 ______


                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 1, 1994

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, I commend to my colleagues an editorial 
which appeared in the Norfolk Daily News on January 15, 1994. This 
editorial echoes the sentiments of this Member and many Americans 
across the country that welfare reform must be passed and signed into 
law this year. Our country cannot afford for Congress to further delay 
action on this important matter.

              [From the Norfolk Daily News, Jan. 15, 1994]

                            Priority Matter

       Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., is right: Reform of 
     the welfare system should not have to be postponed because of 
     the priority given by the White House to health-care 
     legislation. Sen. Moynihan has expressed his concerns to 
     Clinton administration officials who indicated a 
     preoccupation with health care issues.
       Both the White House and Congress are equipped to consider 
     more than one issue at a time. Administration specialists in 
     the welfare field need not be distracted by those working on 
     health care reform. As long as the president and his several 
     top advisers in both fields can finally reach agreement on 
     what to propose, Congress can similarly divide the duties of 
     writing these proposals into laws. A willingness to organize 
     properly is all that is required.
       The basics of the administration's welfare proposals are 
     known. They include a requirement that two years become a 
     practical limit for most beneficiaries, within which time 
     there is to be more extensive job training. It is not 
     difficult to write such legislation. It is only difficult to 
     get it out of the staff and committee structure on Capitol 
     Hill, and then to limit debate and agree to vote.
       Welfare reform legislation is not a case of dealing with 
     the unknown as is true of the proposed revisions of health 
     care in America. Health care overhaul involves more extensive 
     consideration, hearings and debate because it is not a 
     revision of a system which the Clintonites desire, but an 
     entirely new way to deliver medical treatment to Americans, 
     and to pay for it.
       Health care system changes can be delayed without harm to 
     the Republic. That is because ill people in America--rich and 
     poor--are now being taken care of. The battle against disease 
     is being fought valiantly and successfully at the present 
     time--by the existing system. To be sure, there are many 
     problems, but the system is not broken.
       Meanwhile, without major changes in the welfare field, the 
     numbers of beneficiaries continue to grow when the object of 
     assistance from the federal government should be to see that 
     the numbers dwindle down to a disabled and permanently 
     handicapped few. The welfare system is broken. Fixing it 
     deserves a higher priority, if a choice must finally be made.

                          ____________________