[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 54 (Thursday, March 23, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H3717]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                  MODERN WELFARE SYSTEM HAS NOT WORKED

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Bryant] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BRYANT of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, the issue before us this 
evening is what has worked and what has not worked in the modern 
welfare society of America. Clearly the current system has not worked. 
It has encouraged dependency upon the Federal Government; it has 
encouraged illegitimacy; it has discouraged self-reliance and the basic 
idea of work.
  In short, it has promoted many of the behaviors and values that are 
exactly opposite of what every single Member of this body would raise 
their own families by.
  Mr. Speaker, the original intent of the welfare system has been lost. 
What was intended to be a compassionate provision to help people has 
turned into a destructive and permanent fixture of dependency for many 
who are entrapped within it. Sadly, many of these people have chosen to 
make their living for themselves and their families without working by 
choosing to take AFDC, food stamps, and countless other programs which 
cost over $300 billion annually. This is wrong and unfair for them and 
taxpayers, and it must stop.
  What the Personal Responsibility Act aims to do is to require 
individuals to look to themselves and their families and not to 
Washington in order to become productive members of society.
  I cannot help but consider it worthy of mentioning a couple of 
startling facts about a county in my home State of Tennessee, one that 
I partially represent, the county of Shelby, which includes Memphis. 
According to the Commercial Appeal, the local daily newspaper in 
Memphis and Shelby County, one out of every four families with children 
under the age of 18 draws monthly welfare checks. According to the same 
publication, when Federal welfare dollars are combined with State 
welfare dollars, that total amount is the single largest source of 
money for Shelby County, TN. Not the payroll of Maybelline, not the 
payroll of Schering-Plough, not even the payroll of Federal Express; 
not the payroll of any single business or industry can match the 
welfare dole of the government in Shelby County, TN. That is what 
welfare is doing for one of Tennessee's most populous counties. And 
while maybe not to such a large degree, that is what welfare is doing 
to all the rest of the country, and that is what we are trying to 
change.
  Mr. Speaker, I have listened in recent days to the inappropriate 
charge that children are going to be hurt with our bill. I sat here and 
listened as we have gone about our Contract With America and attempted 
to make those changes we said we would make in our contract. On the 
balanced budget amendment, I have heard about poor children there. In 
tort reform, I heard about poor children being hurt there. In 
regulatory reform, I heard about poor children being hurt there. 
Unfunded mandates, the same thing. The crime bill, the same thing. Even 
in the national security bill, I heard about poor children being hurt.
  I am most eager, as we begin to talk about term limits next week, to 
see how they are going to say poor children are going to be hurt by 
that. But we are not going to hurt children by term limits.
  Just as we heard from the other side that Republicans do not have a 
monopoly on Christianity, and I agree on that, the Democrats do not 
have a monopoly on love of children. We have got some fathers and some 
grandfathers on this side, and to do
 that you have to have children.

  We are not going to hurt children. What is hurting children is the 
current system of welfare. It encourages kids to have kids, and fathers 
to abandon their responsibilities, and families to set poor examples 
for their children by not working. The Republican welfare reform plan 
requires work and other responsibility. It changes the status quo. It 
encourages dignity, and it gives hope to all who may use it to succeed.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California, Mr. FARR, is recognized for 5 minutes.
  [Mr. FARR addressed the House. His remarks will appear in the 
Extensions of Remarks.]

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