[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 118 (Thursday, July 20, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S10335]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    WELFARE REFORM THE COUNTRY WANTS

  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I see morning business is about to be 
concluded. I want to make a couple comments about our subject of the 
day, the welfare reform the country so desperately wants.
  The postelection survey showed that there are three major elements to 
the mandate of the election of 1994. They were: We want to do something 
to eliminate the deficits; we want to do something meaningful about 
regulatory reform; and we want real welfare reform.
  Mr. President, I am very proud that we in this House, the Senate, and 
over in the other body, submitted and adopted a budget resolution that 
is going to end up eliminating the deficit by the year 2002.
 So the President could not veto it, or I am sure he would have. 
Nonetheless, I think we are on our way to fulfilling that mandate. 
Regulatory reform--we are working on that right now, and I think we 
will end up with a product by the end of the week in getting it out.

  Welfare reform is more difficult, because it seems that everybody 
campaigns on it, until they get here, and then they do not want to do 
anything about it. The two most important points are the exploding 
welfare costs and the crisis of legitimacy. In 1935, when AFDC was 
enacted, 88 percent of the families who received State cash relief were 
needy because the fathers had died. Benefits were intended primarily to 
enable the widow to care for her children at home.
  Today, AFDC serves divorced, deserted, and never-married mothers and 
their offspring. Since the beginning of the program in 1965, in the 
last 30 years, State and Federal Governments have spent $5.4 trillion 
on welfare, providing cash, food, housing, medical care, and social 
services. For the $5.4 trillion spent since 1965, you could buy the 
entire industrial infrastructure of the United States--every factory, 
machine, store, every hotel, television station, office building, and 
still have money left over.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Coverdell). The Chair advises the Senator 
that his time has expired.
  Mr. INHOFE. I understand that. I ask for 30 more seconds.
  Mr. DOLE. I will be glad to yield some of my leader time.
  Mr. INHOFE. I will just conclude by saying that we have an 
opportunity to do something about this--one of the three major mandates 
of the election in 1994. It is incumbent upon to us do this. We have 
introduced legislation that will give true welfare reform and take the 
profit out of illegitimacy, and the people of America are demanding 
that we do it.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  

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