[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 55 (Friday, March 24, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H3796]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page H3796]]
                   WELFARE REFORM IS NOT UN-AMERICAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida [Mr. Scarborough] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCARBOROUGH. Mr. Speaker, I have got to tell you I feel very 
honored to be a part of something today where we literally changed the 
way the Federal Government operates today in this House.
  We have stopped or begun the process of stopping a process that for 
30 years has encouraged destructive behavior, that has rewarded 
illegitimacy, that has paid people not to work, that has broken down 
families, that has torn apart communities, and has turned those inner 
cities that we hear so much about into war zones that are at times 
worse off than conditions in Third World countries.
  Our welfare reform bill that supposedly is going to be so harmful to 
everybody just requires a few basic things; and, unfortunately, I have 
to disagree with the last speaker. There is nothing un-American or 
disloyal about the concepts contained in this bill.
  What could be more American than the basic belief that if you are 
going to get paid, you have to work? Is that un-American? I do not 
think so. I think that is a basic concept that this country was created 
on.
  It also trusts families and communities more than it trusts Federal 
bureaucrats and agencies. You know, it was 200 years ago that Thomas 
Jefferson said that the government that governs least governs best.
  And James Madison, while drafting the Constitution, a very American 
document, mind you, stated we have staked the entire future of the 
American civilization not upon the power of government but upon the 
capacity of each of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves and to 
sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God. That was 
James Madison, a man who drafted the Constitution, a man who was not 
un-American or disloyal.
  And yet, Mr. Speaker, if you listen to the debate that has gone on 
this week, throwing out terms like disloyal and mean spirited has been 
part of a very shameful demagogic approach on this issue of welfare 
reform.
  I have seen Members going around with ties with children on it. I 
just think that is grand. But that does not mean you like children. 
When you continue to allow a system to go forward that has hurt 
children for 30 years, you are not helping children.
  And you can wear a tie, but I will tell you, of those people that 
were wearing ties with children on them, it is about the only thing 
they did during this welfare debate because they sure did not come up 
with an alternative to get rid of a system that rewards illegitimacy 
and unproductive behavior.
  They brought nothing to the table. They were shameless in their 
approach, saying we were going to hurt children because we wanted to 
finally get rid of this corrupt system.
  It reminds me of a movie I saw a few years ago. At the end of the 
movie a politician, who was basically trying to take over the world, 
was being shot at, and he held up a child as a body shield as he ran 
out. And the cameras clicked, and it showed up in the papers the next 
day that this politician was so shameful that he used a child as his 
shield.

                              {time}  1445

  Well, ladies and gentlemen, we have seen where life has imitated art. 
Because this week liberal protectors of the status quo of the corrupt 
system that has destroyed our inner cities have held up little children 
because they want to protect their power. They want to protect the 
bureaucracies up and down these avenues. They want to protect their way 
of life, their corrupt way of life.
  Let me tell you something. We have spent $5 trillion over the past 30 
years in this so-called war on poverty, and we have failed. It has 
ended up as a war on families, and war on hard work, a war on personal 
responsibility and a war on American values.
  Look at the figures. It is uncontroverted. You can wear your ties all 
you want to. You can talk about how we are cutting school lunch 
programs. That is not the case. The fact of the matter is funding on 
school lunch programs for the next 4 years goes up.
  Let us get used to the new math, folks. One plus one equals two. If 
you spend more money on school lunch programs in the year 2000 than you 
are spending now, that is an increase. Well, we are changing the way 
Washington works. Stay tuned.


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