[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 53 (Wednesday, March 22, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H3543-H3544]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                            FOOD ASSISTANCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from North Carolina [Mrs. Clayton] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, this is a sad day in American history. The 
Republican Majority, with brute and brutal force, has begun a process 
to undo a half century of laws--laws that have taken this Nation from 
the depths of depression and malnutrition to soaring heights of health. 
This process threatens the very strength of America. Federal nutrition 
programs were first started when it was realized that many of those 
poor upon whom we depended to join the military and defend us came to 
the job undernourished and poorly fed. If they could die for America, 
we reasoned, we should feed them while they were young.
  This Personal Responsibility Act is irresponsible. It is 
irresponsible, for many reasons. I want to share five of those reasons 
with you. First, this Bill penalizes children. It penalizes children 
because, beginning immediately, fewer children than we now help and who 
need our help, will be helped. More than fourteen million children will 
receive less in food stamp benefits. More than six million children, 
born to younger mothers, will be denied benefits altogether. More than 
three million children, who do not know their fathers, will get reduced 
benefits, through no fault of their own. But, worse yet, more than 
700,000 of those disabled children who received benefits last year will 
not receive benefits next year, under provisions of this Bill.
  The Republican Majority will say they are making the system more 
efficient. The children born to children, without fathers and with 
disabilities, will simply suffer.
  Second, this Bill has unfair work requirements. Because it does not 
clearly define the amount of compensation for the requirement to work, 
it could mean eighty hours of work for sixty-nine dollars in benefits--
less than a dollar an hour. That is not fair. That is not just. That is 
not humane. At the very least, forced labor should require payment of 
the minimum wage. The Republicans will say that these workers may get a 
package of benefits worth as much as ten thousand dollars a year. That 
is deceptive. What about those who do not live in public housing? What 
about those who do not receive Medicaid? What about those who only get 
food stamps? What about child care costs? Those recipients will be 
forced to work for compensation far below the minimum wage. That does 
not encourage self-sufficiency. Third, the Bill puts people off 
welfare, without putting them to work.
  Time limits for benefits, without job opportunities will not work. If 
an individual is able to work, we must insure that a job is available. 
Fourth, reasonable child care options should be a part of any work 
program. The Majority recognizes this by offering an amendment to 
increase the amount of money in the Bill for child care. But, the 
amendment falls far short. Under the Bill, there is a twenty percent 
cut in child care, affecting some 400,000 children. The amendment, if 
it passes, will put a small dent in those affected children. And, 
finally, but certainly not least, The Personal Responsibility Act 
creates block grants out of federal food assistance programs, thereby 
shifting the burden of nutrition programs to 
[[Page H3544]] the States. Instead of one nutrition standard, we will 
have fifty different standards. Instead of promoting our children-our 
future-we punish them.
  Mr. Speaker, the Republican Majority has the votes to force this Bill 
upon the American people. But, what they want and what we want are 
clearly different. They want block grants. We want healthy Americans. 
They want cheap labor. We want fair labor. They hurt children. We want 
to help children. They call the seventy billion dollars in benefit 
reductions ``savings''. We call them ``cuts''. They want to use that 
money to give tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans. We want to use 
that money to give a break to the children of America. They want 
change. We want change. Their change is mean and cruel and will cause 
misery. Our change is for improvement. We want to put people to work, 
get them off welfare, prevent teen pregnancy, nourish infants, feed 
needy children and prepare our young for a productive future.
  When the record of this period in our Nation's history is written, we 
want it said that we took people off welfare and put them to work, at a 
livable wage. We want it said that we fed children in their stomachs so 
that we could feed them in their minds. We want it said that while some 
wanted to hurt the people, reason prevailed, and we helped the people. 
I urge my colleagues to reject the Personal Responsibility Act. It is 
irresponsible.


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