[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 141 (Monday, October 3, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                ``THE SYSTEM DOESN'T WORK. THIS MIGHT''

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I am catching up on some old 
magazines that accumulated and came across Business Week of June 13, 
1994.
  Among the articles are several on welfare, including one titled, 
``The System Doesn't Work. This Might.''
  It is a series of suggestions about what can be done to improve 
opportunities for those on welfare, and at the same time, ultimately, 
reduce cost.
  While I do not agree with everything in the article, the basic idea, 
that we have to have jobs to have real welfare reform, is absolutely 
sound.
  Other suggestions are that we improve job training, provide child 
care, adopt policies that encourage family collegian rather than 
discourage it and that we let states have flexibility.
  The basic suggestion that we stress jobs is critical, but we have to 
recognize there are many people who cannot find the jobs and who cannot 
read about them because they cannot read and write, or they cannot read 
or write the English language.
  We need to combine a jobs program, with government the employer of 
last resort but encourage private sector employment. Some modification 
of the old WPA is desirable, with people working 4 days a week for the 
minimum wage, and the fifth day, they should be required to look for 
jobs in the private sector. And in the process, they can learn the 
basics, like showing up for work on time. That sounds like progress. 
Then those who apply for these jobs must be screened, and if they 
cannot read and write, we have to get them into a program. If they have 
no marketable skills, you have to do the same.
  I ask to insert the Business Week article, written by Howard Gleckman 
and Paul Magnusson, into the Record at this point.
  The article follows:

                [From the Business Week, June 13, 1994]

                  The System Doesn't Work--This Might

                (By Howard Gleckman and Paul Magnusson)

       After three decades of bitter debate, the political system 
     now seems on the verge of a remarkable consensus: Welfare as 
     we know it must end. Changing a system so obviously flawed is 
     a worthy goal, but the challenges are enormous. How can the 
     typical welfare family--an unwed mother with two kids, little 
     education, and few job skills--become self-sufficient? 
     ``Never in history,'' says Douglas J. Besharov of the 
     American Enterprise Institute, ``have poorly educated single 
     mothers with children been an economically viable family.''
       But it is not hopeless. Emerging alternatives to welfare, 
     although still small-scale and local, show promise, Business 
     Week endorses a set of proposals that would slash welfare 
     rolls by at least half--moving 2.5 million moms and nearly 5 
     million kids into mainstream society within two years. These 
     proposals are based on a simple concept: Work is better than 
     welfare. They would focus on getting welfare moms--and 90% of 
     adults on welfare are mothers--into the private sector. 
     Public-service jobs would be available but only as a limited, 
     last resort. Fathers would have to provide financial support 
     to their children.
       Any reform plan must help those on welfare without sending 
     the wrong signals to those already working. Business Week 
     would continue benefits for the disabled and those with very 
     young or ill children. Those able to work, who choose not to, 
     would receive no cash benefits, but food stamps and medical 
     care would still be available to kids. Working mothers would 
     receive child and medical care, though only until they could 
     support themselves.
       Welfare reform would work best combined with a health-
     reform plan that gives equal access to medical benefits. 
     Added child care may give welfare mothers an advantage over 
     the working poor, but that may be a necessary price to pay to 
     move moms into the workforce.
       New hope. Business Week's proposals are not punitive. 
     Instead, they seek to provide the poor with the same 
     incentives as the rest of society: Those with intelligence 
     and ambition will use their newfound jobs as stepping stones 
     to more rewarding work. A majority may never get beyond low-
     paying jobs. But life will change because they--not 
     government--would be responsible for their lives and those of 
     their children. ``We need to be saying it's good to work,'' 
     says top Clinton welfare adviser David T. Ellwood.
       Fixing welfare in this way could cost upwards of $4 billion 
     a year--at least double what Clinton says his plan will cost. 
     That figures a $4,000 annual tab for a child's day care, vs. 
     Clinton's estimate of $1,700, plus $5,000 a year for each 
     public-service job. Make no mistake; it would be cheaper to 
     keep sending welfare checks. But consider the social costs: 
     White women, for example, are six times more likely to go on 
     welfare as adults if they come from a welfare family. Young 
     black men who grow up on welfare are three times more likely 
     to go to jail than those who do not.
       Many newly working mothers will pay taxes and that will 
     help offset the cost--perhaps $1 billion. The rest would come 
     from spending cuts. Eliminating operating subsidies for 
     Amtrak and setting user fees for the air-traffic-control 
     system would save more than $2 billion annually. Trimming 
     agriculture subsidies could save $2 billion more. Paying the 
     bill will be tough, but the real challenge will be getting 
     people working, restoring families, and giving kids some 
     hope. Here's how Business Week would do it:
       JOBS, JOBS, JOBS. There is widespread agreement among 
     experts that up to two-thirds of the adults on welfare are 
     employable. And most say they want to work. To help them, the 
     system must be retooled to focus on skill training, job 
     search help, and developing close ties to local businesses 
     that can provide the jobs. These positions will be mostly 
     entry-level and won't pay much to start. But with child care 
     and medical benefits, they'll be a start on the road to 
     economic independence.
       That's what's happening at The New Hope Project in 
     Milwaukee. Begun in 1990, it provides a wage subsidy, child 
     care, and health benefits, but only for those who are 
     working. Participants must look for private-sector jobs, 
     though some take temporary community-service jobs. Early 
     results: 60% of the 52 volunteers work in local companies.
       One success story is 36-year-old Dora Young. A high-school 
     dropout, the Milwaukee mother of five had been on and off 
     welfare for 12 years. But a year ago she landed a full-time 
     job with Marriott Contract Service Inc., cooking lunches for 
     students at Marquette University. Young makes $6.17 an hour, 
     so she's still getting an income supplement, plus food stamps 
     and Medicaid. Her goal: ``To get experience to get a better-
     paying job.''
       Not everyone will find work right away, so new public-
     service jobs will be needed. But real reform will succeed 
     only if there are enough private-sector jobs to absorb the 2 
     million or so new workers. Recent studies suggest that work 
     is out there--especially in an expanding economy that is 
     creating about 250,000 positions a month. ``It is realistic 
     to think they can find jobs,'' says Labor Secretary Robert 
     Reich.
       Still, many jobs are in the suburbs and would require long 
     commutes. Others just don't pay enough to pull a mother and 
     two kids above the poverty line of $11,000. Says former 
     Commissioner of Labor Statistics Janet L. Norword: ``There 
     are a lot of jobs for unskilled workers willing to accept 
     minimum wage or just slightly above it.''
       Provide training. Welfare recipients can survive on such 
     entry-level jobs, but good job training is critical if they 
     are to do better than that. Most of the government's 50-plus 
     training programs for welfare recipients have been well-
     intentioned but ineffective. To succeed, training must 
     address the basics--arriving on time and taking orders--as 
     well as job skills. And it must be tailored to the needs of 
     individuals and the local market. Ideally, training ought to 
     be tied to specific jobs. Such training won't necessarily 
     cost much: We can retool existing programs, get rid of failed 
     ones, and focus on what works.
       Denver's Family Opportunity Partnership shows the promise 
     of targeted training. The program works closely with a local 
     temporary agency, Sunny Side Inc./Temp Side. It teaches word 
     processing, computer programming, and receptionist skills and 
     provides placement in clerical and secretarial jobs. Of the 
     20 participants hired by Sunny Side, 13 have either gotten a 
     permanent job or are temping full-time.
       Child care. Giving up a welfare check--and the related 
     package of food stamps, child care, and the rest--doesn't 
     make sense if the payoff is a low-wage job with fewer 
     benefits. ``Mothers on welfare would love to work,'' say 
     Massachusetts Governor William F. Weld, ``if they had health 
     care and child care.'' He wants to abolish welfare but use 
     the savings to provide those benefits.
       Training and financial support helped Cynthia Hayes, a 31-
     year-old divorced mother of three who has been on welfare for 
     three years. The Denver program led her through a word-
     processing and job-search course, then helped her land a $7-
     an-hour job. But Hayes says she couldn't have done it without 
     adequate--and state-financed--child care. ``There was no 
     way,'' she says. ``Child care would have cost me $900 a 
     month.
       Rebuild the family. Nearly 7 million children from one-
     parent families live in poverty. To help them, the economic 
     and emotional links between fathers and children must be 
     restored. Paternity should be disclosed at birth. Dads who 
     are able should contribute child support. Others should be 
     given training and, if needed, made to perform a public-
     sector job. Finally, family planning must be taught early to 
     reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies.
       Let states lead the way. All too often, federal rules 
     stifle state welfare initiatives. Welfare programs ought to 
     be turned over to the states so that they are free to 
     experiment, within guidelines set by Congress. The problems 
     leading to welfare dependence are ultimately local, and state 
     officials have been most successful in crafting solutions.
       Today, the adults and children on welfare suffer daily from 
     a well-intentioned but misguided system. It will take years 
     to retool welfare into a job-creating machine. But until that 
     is done, too many citizens will be denied a stake in the 
     future. By focusing on jobs, the process can at least 
     begin.

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