[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 52 (Tuesday, March 21, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H3339]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        WELFARE REFORM IS NEEDED

  (Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, welfare reform is needed. Let 
us have a real debate on welfare reform. We can require work. Let us 
set time limits on assistance for the nondisabled. Let us require job 
training. Let us do a better job on collecting child support. I think 
that needs to be done.
  But this bill today is more than that. This bill is about cuts in 
assistance to children. And whether you call it cuts or, under the 
newspeak, we call it limitations on increases, the American people want 
welfare reform, but they do not want cuts in our school lunches.
  Yesterday I had lunch at the J.P. Henderson Elementary School in 
Houston, TX. Those children enjoyed their lunch. We had a burrito, and 
I will have to admit it was harder for me to eat than it was for them 
to eat. But their lunch is important to them, as important as their 
school work, their room or their teachers, because a child who is 
hungry cannot learn. The American people understand that, and I hope 
people would understand in this Congress that they need to read their 
lips; they want welfare reform but they do not want cuts in school 
lunch programs, as this bill, H.R. 1214, will do.


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