[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 21 (Wednesday, March 2, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 2, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
           CURRENT WELFARE POLICIES SAID TO ENCOURAGE POVERTY

  (Mrs. MEYERS of Kansas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mrs. MEYERS of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, yesterday in a ``Dear Colleague'' 
I shared this poverty statistic with my colleagues:

       A recent study compared two groups of Americans: those who 
     finished high school, got married and reached age 20 before 
     having their first child, and those who didn't. Of the 
     children of those in the first group, only 8% were living in 
     poverty in 1992. In the second, the poverty rate was 79%.

  I read this alarming information in a William Raspberry column last 
week. Please watch for my ``Dear Colleague'' and read the Raspberry 
article. We know that the teenage out-of-wedlock birth rates are 
growing at an disastrous rate. In fact, many believe our current 
welfare policies, which were put in place to fight poverty, actually 
encourage poverty. Let us put the brakes on out-of-wedlock births. 
Cosponsor H.R. 1293. Fight poverty proactively.

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