[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 55 (Friday, March 24, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H3738]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   HELPING AMERICANS GET OFF WELFARE

  (Mr. KINGSTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, not long ago a fisherman off the coast of 
Savannah discovered if he sailed his boats to a certain spot each day 
and fed a school of dolphins that they would start gathering at that 
spot daily. Next he observed a lot of Yankees heading south on I-95 who 
had pockets and briefcases and purses full of money.
  So, being an astute entrepreneur, he then put one and one together 
and he said, hey tourists, want to see some fish? For 20 bucks I will 
take you out in my boats. You will see hundreds of them, and for an 
extra 5 bucks I will throw in a fish head and you too can play Jacques 
Cousteau, and the tourists just kept pulling off I-95 and jamming the 
exit.
  The fisherman was growing rich and the dolphins fat. Then enter Fish 
and Wildlife. Hold everything, they said, you cannot do this; you are 
making the fish dependent, you are disturbing their ability to fend for 
themselves. And they were right. It was not in the best long-term 
interests of the dolphins.
  Question: Why do not we elevate people to the same status of 
dolphins? Let us consider what the welfare system is doing to our 
fellow man.
  If the dolphin beaches itself, let us help it back out to the ocean. 
If a fellow American falls down, let us help him get back up, but let 
us not throw him in a hopeless mire of a welfare system that does not 
work.




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