[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 34 (Thursday, February 23, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H2073]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page H2073]]
                             WELFARE REFORM

  (Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Mr. Speaker, as we struggle to find a balance 
between human needs and the desire to address the abuses and 
ineffectiveness of the current welfare system, we must not forget the 
major beneficiaries of welfare--children.
  Any plan that does not adequately address the needs of children is 
destined to raise the misery of childhood hunger, homelessness, and 
disease to a magnitude we have never before witnessed in this country.
  In my home State of California, 69 percent of current AFDC recipients 
are children who depend on welfare as a safety net to survive.
  Children throughout this country will be virtually abandoned under 
H.R. 4, the Republicans' welfare reform bill.
  In the subcommittee, the Republican majority refused to assure child 
care for mothers who got to work, refused to assure the safety of 
children in foster care, and refused to preserve SSI benefits for 
certain medically disabled children. And they are even threatening 
child nutrition programs.
  It is reprehensible to leave our children, our future work force, 
physically and intellectually weakened by denying them nutrition, 
shelter, and health care.
  This will only negate our goal of building a more self-reliant 
America.


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