[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 38 (Wednesday, March 1, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H2397]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         WELFARE ISN'T A LUXURY
  (Ms. FURSE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. FURSE. Mr. Speaker, I am appalled at the mean spirit of my 
Republican colleagues. I rise today to call on them to get over their 
stereotypes of welfare. They should listen to experts like Joe 
Livingston from southwest Portland:

       As a medical student at Oregon Health Sciences University, 
     I see poverty all of the time, and it reminds me of my own 
     experiences growing up. I was the child of a teenage parent. 
     There were times in our lives when my mother could not make 
     ends meet and we went on welfare.
       I find it terrifying that many in Congress feel it is good 
     for the country to decide that if young women have children 
     outside of marriage they should be abandoned. Teenage mothers 
     do not need our government to punish them; they need help. 
     Their young children do not need Congress to judge them as 
     bastards; they need food and shelter.

                          ____________________