[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 55 (Friday, March 24, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H3741]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TIME TO CHANGE THE WELFARE SYSTEM

  (Mr. RIGGS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. RIGGS. Mr. Speaker and my colleagues, it is hard to know what to 
make of my liberal colleagues as they come to the well and ooze 
compassion and sport their politically correct ties, when they claim 
they want to end welfare as we know it. After all, they had ample 
opportunity to change to system during the last 2 years when they 
controlled both Houses of Congress and the White House.
  But the sad fact is they do not want to change the welfare system, 
because they like it. They like it because it is good for them 
politically, and the truth of the matter is that the welfare 
bureaucracy and welfare recipients have become a core constituency of 
the national Democratic Party.
  The American people know the current welfare system is a disaster, 
especially for children. Children on welfare do worse in school. They 
tend to have more developmental problems, and they are far more likely 
to end up on welfare themselves.
  How can my liberal colleagues come down here and defend the current 
welfare systems, one which promotes intergenerational dependency on 
welfare, which leads to family disintegration and soaring rates of 
illegitimacy? How can they look the American people in the eye and say 
we need more of the same?
  It is time to change the welfare system in America, Mr. Speaker, and 
change it we will for the children of this country.

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