[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 25 (Wednesday, February 8, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H1379]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page H1379]]
                     MAKE WELFARE A CASHLESS SYSTEM

  (Mr. FRANKS of Connecticut asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FRANKS of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, we must take cash out of our 
current welfare system and replace it with a debit card. Welfare 
dollars are taxpayers' dollars, and we need and deserve to have a 
proper accounting of these funds.
  A Columbia University study claimed that 25 percent of welfare 
recipients are drug abusers. If you have high unemployment, high drug 
trafficking, and high welfare use in our cities, where is the money 
coming from? It is obvious that we, as taxpayers, are inadvertently 
fueling our criminal drug industry by welfare.
  A picture debit card system will help solve this problem, since drug 
dealers do not take American Express or any other form of plastic. The 
proper dispensing of welfare funds by electronic transfer will improve 
our housing stock in our cities, lower our utility bills for our 
elderly, help make the banking industry more efficient, and, most 
importantly, allow our children to receive their due assistance. This 
could be the best form of eradicating welfare fraud.

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