[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 56 (Tuesday, May 10, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[Congressional Record: May 10, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
REMARKS OF SENATOR HARLAN MATHEWS
Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. President, earlier today our colleague Senator
Mathews delivered a salute to State administrators of vocational
rehabilitation.
I commend our colleague for this fine speech and I ask unanimous
consent that the text of the address be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the address was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Salute to State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation
(By Senator Harlan Mathews)
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Washington and
Capitol Hill. I am delighted to be with you again. As you can
imagine, many people visit Washington seeking support for
their programs. Sometimes I get into trouble because I
question what those people and their programs really achieve.
I certainly have no such questions for you.
What an incredible record you have:
You are a $3 billion service delivery program that returns
about $10 on every $1 invested;
You assist a million of our society's citizens with
disabilities every year, and every year you situate a quarter
of a million of those Americans in meaningful and productive
jobs; and
Within 4 years, the reduction in public assistance payments
for people who've received your services offsets the amount
it took to rehabilitate them. That's a human investment
program in every sense.
But what's most impressive to me is that public service is
not just your job but a life commitment. Some of you draw
your commitment from difficulties you face in your own lives.
Others draw your commitment from the hardships of friends and
family. But for each of you, whatever your reason, helping
people with a disability to hold competitive employment is a
genuine purpose in your lives. I know a bit about that
purpose, because I share my life with someone who has it.
My thoughts for you today come more from my 43 years in
Tennessee State government than from my 1\1/2\ years in the
Senate. I think that's appropriate, because V-R has enjoyed
great respect with governors and state legislators. What's
more, my experience as Commissioner of Finance and
Administration and as State Treasurer taught me which
programs worked and why. I know that for a government-
assisted program to work, it has to concentrate its efforts
where they're productive.
Today there's a great deal of effort underway to make
government more effective, and I can't help remarking on how
much those efforts could learn from studying the Vocational
Rehabilitation Program.
You all know of Vice President Gore's initiative to
reinvent government and make it more effective and
responsive. The V-R effort is the finest example I know of a
government-assisted program that is precisely that--effective
and responsive.
President Clinton's administration is committed to equal
opportunity and economic access for all Americans. In many
ways, Vocational Rehabilitation is the ultimate example of a
public effort bringing equal opportunity.
Congress is about to undertake serious and substantial
steps toward reforming welfare. The goal will be to lift
people off the public roles and place them onto private
sector payrolls. Vocational Rehabilitation has been doing
exactly that for three-quarters of a century.
Vocational Rehabilitation Program is a sterling example of
what government is trying to accomplish and of what it's
possible to accomplish when you do things right.
A worthy cause that's responsibly administered and shows
tangible results will deserve and find nearly universal
support. Vocational Rehabilitation certainly has--through
thick times and thin, one Congress after another, one
economic cycle after another. Your results are the reason
why.
V-R has become one of the oldest programs on the public
books and has remained intact these past 73 years because it
generates independence, has been accountable, and doesn't
take forever to produce results. It provides a leg up, not a
hand out.
There's no question that the American public is growing
more and more insistent that public-supported programs are
run effectively and justify the money that's spent on them.
When it comes to public service programs like V-R in
particular, they want to know that resources and attention
are centering upon the people who are supposed to be served.
So it's especially important that you remove the barriers
impeding quick, cost-effective, appropriate services to
all citizens.
I remember an incident when I was Commissioner of Finance
in Tennessee. A surgeon had performed an elaborate and costly
procedure on a V-R client, and he could not be paid. The
doctor called my office because we were responsible for
issuing checks. My staff looked into it, and told me the
problem was that the counselor had not moved the client to a
Status 16. I wondered then and I wonder now whether the
process was being served or whether people were being served.
That kind of situation is what I mean by removing barriers
and focusing on people not processes. We waste too much time
and money at the federal level because of a bureaucratic
preoccupation with process, and I don't want it to happen
with you.
If I were to counsel you on one thing it would be this:
don't stray from the path that's made you successful.
Vocational Rehab was founded with its emphasis squarely on
vocational, and that's the emphasis you have to keep.
Some people in your profession and outside it have
forgotten that. They want to indulge disability. They want to
sustain dependency rather than foster independence. They want
your program to be about everything but employment. And they
believe that administering a huge process with an infinity of
services its own end.
I honestly believe that the V-R Program will cease to be
recognized as a leader in the disability arena the day that
you drop the emphasis on employment outcome. State
legislatures across the nation will start to regard V-R as a
welfare program, not as a highly successful manpower program.
So will the Congress. That change in perception would be
detrimental to your future and to the people you serve.
You must continue to be and continue to remain known as the
employment program for people with disabilities. I don't see
any benefit in permitting V-R to become anything else. Hold
yourselves to the same outcome-based goal that you stress for
those you serve. And that goal is to run an accountable,
effective manpower program that generates economic
independence in a time-limited framework.
All of you here have a tremendous task ahead of you if V-R
is to survive as we know it today. But I know you're up to
the job. I want all of you and your staffs to know that a
great number of us in Congress admire your dedication and
commitment to a job that's sometimes very difficult--the kind
of commitment and dedication that Joe Owens and Jack Duncan
have shown. They are two strong advocates for you and for
people with disabilities. I salute them and all of you for
the good work you've done. I wish you every success in the
years ahead.
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