[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 101 (Tuesday, June 20, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S8654]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             WELFARE REFORM

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, many of us are interested in the subject 
of welfare reform. I have now had an opportunity to hear a discussion 
of the scheduling that has been proposed for the Senate for the 
remainder of this week, next week, and in the weeks following the July 
4 recess. I would say, as one Member of the Senate, I hope very much 
that we will see a welfare reform bill brought to the floor of the 
Senate by the majority party. We are ready, willing, and waiting to 
debate the welfare reform issue. We have produced, on the minority 
side, a welfare reform plan that we are proud of, one we think works, 
one we think will save the taxpayers in this country money, and one 
that will provide hope and opportunity for those in this country who 
are down and out and who need a helping hand to get up and off the 
welfare rolls and onto payrolls.
  It is our understanding that the majority party, after having come to 
the floor for many, many months talking about the need and urgency for 
welfare reform, and their anxious concern about getting it to the 
floor, have run into a snag. They are off stride because they 
apparently cannot reach agreement in their own caucus on what 
constitutes a workable welfare reform plan that would advance the 
interests of this country.
  We hope very much they find a way in their caucus to resolve their 
internal problems. Democrats have a welfare reform bill that will work, 
that is good for this country, and that we are ready to bring to the 
floor immediately. The question for them, I suppose, is what is wrong 
with the Republican welfare reform bill?
  The problem Democrats see and the reason that we have constructed an 
alternative is that the welfare reform bill they are talking about, but 
apparently cannot yet agree on, is that it is not a bill about work. We 
believe that welfare reform must be more than a helping hand; it must 
also be about work.
  In our bill, we call it Work First. We extend a hand of opportunity 
to those in need. Those who take advantage of the opportunities that 
this system gives them also have a responsibility. We will offer a 
helping hand. We will help you step up and out when you are down and 
out. You deserve a helping hand. But you have a responsibility in 
return. Your responsibility is to get involved in a program which will 
provide the training to lead to a job.
  Welfare is not a way of life and cannot be a way of life. People have 
a responsibility. We are going to require them to meet that 
responsibility.
  A good welfare reform bill is about work. The plan that has been 
proposed, but apparently not yet agreed to because of internal 
dissension in the other caucus, the caucus of the majority party, is 
unfortunately not about work. It is about rhetoric. It is about passing 
the buck. It is about saying let us send a block grant back to the 
States with no strings attached. If they require work, that maybe is 
OK. But they do not require work so their plan is not about work. It is 
about passing the buck. It is also not really about reform. It hands 
the States a pile of money and requires nothing, nothing of substance 
from them in return.
  It does not protect kids. As we reform the welfare system, let us 
understand something about welfare. Two-thirds of the money we spend 
for welfare in this country is spent for the benefit of kids. No kids 
in this country should be penalized because they were born in 
circumstances of poverty. Welfare reform must still protect our 
children.
  Finally, the proposal the majority party is gnashing its teeth about 
does nothing really to address the fundamental change that helps cause 
this circumstance of poverty in our country--teen pregnancy and other 
related issues. Their piece of legislation really takes a pass on those 
issues. We have to be honest with each other. We have to address the 
problem of teen pregnancy in a significant way.
  The problem of teenage pregnancy is not going to go away. It does 
relate to poverty and it does relate to circumstances in which children 
live in poverty. The annual rate of unmarried teen mothers has doubled 
in this country in just one generation, and it continues to rise. There 
are a million teen births every year in this country now--1 million 
teen births, 70 percent of whom are not married. In fact, nearly 1 
million children will be born this year who, during their lifetimes, 
will never learn the identity of their fathers. You cannot call a 
welfare reform plan true reform if it does not address that issue.
  We hope we will soon see legislation on the floor of the Senate that 
is meaningful welfare reform legislation. Senator Daschle, Senator 
Breaux, Senator Mikulski, and others have helped construct a plan I am 
proud of--a plan that will work, a plan that says ``work first,'' a 
plan that will not punish children born in circumstances of poverty.
  Now the question is, Where is the welfare debate? It has been 
postponed. Why? Because the majority party, so anxious to deal with 
welfare reform, now tells us for one reason or another, it is not on 
the horizon for the legislative calendar. I think that is a shame. I 
hope we will see it on the Senate agenda very soon.
  Mr. President, if I might take 1 additional minute, not in morning 
business--on this bill?

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