[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 54 (Thursday, March 23, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H3576]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   CHANGING THE FAILED WELFARE SYSTEM

  (Mr. CHABOT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, one of our liberal Democratic colleagues, 
the gentleman from California [Mr. Martinez], said during the general 
debate Tuesday that the welfare system was originally conceived to help 
children.
  If that is the case, there has never been a clearer example of 
unintended consequences. For it is a sad fact that the current welfare 
system has been a disaster for children. Study after study shows that 
children on welfare do worse in school, are more likely to have other 
developmental problems, and are three times as likely as the average 
child to end up on welfare themselves.
  Yet my liberal colleagues constantly parade to the floor to defend a 
system, their system, that has produced nothing but misery.
  What do the liberals have against work? What do they have against 
personal responsibility? Why do they defend a system that has resulted 
in an explosion of illegitimacy in this country?
  The American people are fed up with an immoral system that rewards 
personally destructive behavior. But this week, we finally begin to 
change the welfare system.

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