[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 40 (Friday, March 3, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H2589]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1030
            DEMOCRATS WANT WELFARE REFORM, BUT NOT EXTREMISM

  (Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I have not heard 
anyone here on either side of the aisle defend the present welfare 
system. All of us want change. The difference is, on my side of the 
aisle, we do not want extremism. We do not want a system that is going 
to just punish and not find a way out for independence.
  I am from Texas, and I can tell the Members that the child nutrition 
program has been helpful. Every report tells us that once the program 
started, children are attending school better, their attention span is 
longer, and they are achieving grades. We cannot, as a nation who 
cares, send our children through life without some kind of caring.
  Mr. Speaker, if we want to create 50 new bureaucracies by sending it 
to the States, then we will have more government than we ever bargained 
for. State's rights for poor children in Texas has never worked. One 
out of every nine children in Texas is now hungry. Almost half of the 
low-income families are now hungry.
  Mr. Speaker, I can tell the Members that most of these families have 
at least one working person. Are we going to throw our children to the 
wolves to give a tax break for the rich? I hope not.


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