[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 53 (Wednesday, March 22, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H3542-H3543]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                THE CURRENT WELFARE SYSTEM DOES NOT WORK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Payne] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PAYNE of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I would like to talk about 
something that I think we all agree upon. There has been a lot of 
discussion, a lot of debate today, and it seems that one thing that we 
do agree upon is the current welfare system simply does not work, and 
instead of requiring work, it actually punishes those who go to work. 
Instead of instilling personal responsibility, it encourages dependence 
on the Government, and instead of encouraging marriage and family 
stability, it penalizes two-parent families and rewards teenage 
pregnancies.
  We all agree welfare must be drastically changed, and that welfare 
should only offer transitional assistance leading to work, not leading 
to a way of life.
  Now, I am one of the cosponsors of the Deal substitute, and we are 
committed in our bill to making some pretty major changes. Our bill is 
the only bill that will be considered which ensures that its savings 
are used for deficit reduction.
  Now, I think that is an important goal that many of us share, and our 
bill is the only bill that ensures that our savings will be used for 
that purpose. We support welfare reform that emphasizes work. It 
emphasizes personal responsibility. It emphasizes family stability.
  The Deal substitute imposes some pretty tough work requirements while 
providing opportunities for education and training and for child care 
and health care to support working people.

                              {time}  2215

  It provides States with the resources necessary in order for welfare 
reform to succeed without shifting costs to local governments or 
without creating unfunded mandates, and it gives the State the 
flexibility to design and administer welfare programs they need without 
sacrificing accountability of the Nation's taxpayer's dollars. We 
believe that real welfare reform must be about replacing a welfare 
check with a paycheck.
  The Deal substitute's time-limited work first program is designed to 
get people into the work force as quickly as possible by requiring all 
recipients to enter a self-sufficiency plan within 30 days of receiving 
their benefits.
  The Republican welfare bill allows recipients to receive cash 
benefits for up to 2 years before they are required to work or even to 
look for work.
  The Deal substitute also encourages welfare recipients to leave 
welfare for work by providing adequate funding for safe child care and 
by extending transitional medicaid assistance from 1 year to 2 years.
  The Deal substitute provides the necessary resources for welfare 
recipients to become self-sufficient, but it also requires recipients 
to be responsible for their own actions by setting clear time limits on 
benefits. No benefits will be paid to anyone, and this is extremely 
important, no benefits will be paid to anyone who refuses to work, who 
refuses to look for work or who turns down a job.
  In addition to making individuals responsible for their own welfare, 
we demand that both parents be responsible for their children. The Deal 
substitute includes the toughest child support system ever to make sure 
that the noncustodial parents simply don't walk away from the children 
that they helped bring into this world.
  The sponsors of the Deal substitute recognize that in order to reform 
welfare States must have the flexibility to design and administer 
welfare programs that are tailored to their unique needs, to the unique 
characteristic of their States. And we believe that States should not 
have to go through any cumbersome Federal waiver process in order to 
implement innovative reforms in their welfare programs.
  The Deal substitute, in fact, puts into place a Federal model for the 
work 
[[Page H3543]] first program, but it
 really encourages States to develop their own work programs. And, 
unlike the Republican bill, the Deal substitute does not remove some 
existing mandates only to replace them with different mandates 
regarding payments for children born on welfare or payments to teenage 
mothers.

  I believe that the Deal substitute offers the best approach to 
welfare reform. It takes a tough approach by setting time limits, and 
it requires people to be responsible for their own actions. It provides 
the necessary resources for welfare recipients to realistically achieve 
self-sufficiency, and I believe that the Deal substitute is the only 
welfare reform bill which gives the American people what they really 
want, which is a plan that makes work the number one priority, 
individuals responsible for their own actions, and welfare reform that 
gives the States the flexibility they need.
  I thank the gentleman. I am sorry I am out of time.

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