[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 132 (Tuesday, August 8, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11803-S11805]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      FAMILY SELF-SUFFICIENCY ACT

  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report the bill.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 4) to restore the American family, reduce 
     illegitimacy, control welfare spending, and reduce welfare 
     dependence.

  The Senate resumed consideration of the bill.

       Pending:
       Dole modified amendment No. 2280, of a perfecting nature.

  Mr. PACKWOOD addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The able Senator from Oregon is 
recognized.
  Mr. PACKWOOD. Mr. President, as I understand it, we are not under 
controlled time. I believe the Senator from Delaware is prepared to 
speak.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Delaware.
  Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, I am pleased to join Senator Dole, Senator 
Packwood, and my other colleagues in introducing this comprehensive 
welfare reform legislation, S. 1120, America's Work and Family 
Opportunities Act of 1995.
  The American people know our welfare system is fatally flawed. The 
present welfare system is not serving the best interests of either the 
beneficiaries or the taxpayers. S. 1120 is a bold initiative that will 
help prevent even more Americans from falling into the trap of 
dependency.
  Mr. President, in 1965, the average monthly number of children 
receiving aid to families with dependent children was 3.3 million; in 
1992, there were 9.3 million children receiving AFDC benefits. While 
the number of children receiving AFDC increased nearly threefold 
between 1965 and 1992, the total 

[[Page S 11804]]
number of children in the United States aged 0 to 18 has declined by 
5.5 percent.
  The Department of Health and Human Services has estimated that 12 
million children will receive AFDC benefits within 10 years. To do 
nothing to prevent this growing tragedy is unacceptable.
  Congress has created a confused and confusing welfare system which 
rewards idleness and punishes work. At a recent hearing I chaired on 
welfare reform, former South Carolina Governor, Carroll Campbell, 
testified that his office found a family in which four generations were 
dependent upon the welfare system in which no one had worked. That is a 
system which does not protect children. That is a system which is cruel 
and heartless.
  Properly understood, welfare reform is about reforming government. 
Under our present system, no one is accountable for results. One of the 
basic flaws in the system is that there is always someone else to blame 
for failure.
  More than 90 Federal programs administered by 11 separate Federal 
agencies provide education, child care, and other services to young 
children from low-income families. The Department of Agriculture 
administers 14 food assistance programs for low-income individuals. Yet 
the Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Health and Human 
Services also run separate food programs. There are 163 Federal 
programs scattered across 15 Federal agencies providing employment and 
training assistance.
  Let us be clear, however, that the individuals in need of assistance 
will still receive it. Children
 will still be fed. Child care will still be provided. Individuals with 
disabilities will still be provided with the full range of services 
they need. This legislation presents the opportunity to restore the 
proper role of the States to consolidate funding from many of these 
separate programs and design their own solutions. Under the present 
system, for example, a low-income mother with 2 children may need to 
visit several different offices to obtain benefits from 17 different 
programs. I firmly believe the States can improve the quality of 
services at lower costs to the taxpayers.

  Mr. President, to be successful in welfare reform, we must change the 
structural status quo. The transformation of these programs into block 
grants will yield tremendous savings over time. It costs $6 billion 
just to administer the AFDC and food stamp programs. When you include 
the cost of errors, fraud, and abuse in these two programs alone, 
another $3 billion of the taxpayers' money is wasted. Some of the 
smaller categorical programs have administrative costs as high as 40 
percent of the cost of the benefits.
  The welfare system is a complex array of about 80 means-tested 
programs which provide not only cash assistance, but also medical care, 
food, housing, education and training, and social services. In this 
fiscal year, Federal and State governments will spend approximately 
$387 billion on these programs. It is clear that the failures of the 
current welfare system are not caused by a lack of money, but rather by 
the structure of the system itself.
  Here is what the General Accounting Office recently said about this 
collection of programs:

       The many means-tested programs are costly and difficult to 
     administer. On one hand, these programs sometimes overlap one 
     another; on the other hand, they are often so narrowly 
     focused that gaps in services hinder clients. We note that 
     although advanced computer technology is essential to 
     efficiently running the programs, it is not being effectively 
     developed or used. Due to their size and complexity, many of 
     these programs are inherently vulnerable to fraud, waste, and 
     abuse. We also point out that some of our work has shown that 
     the welfare system is often difficult for clients to 
     navigate. Finally, administrators have not articulated goals 
     and objectives for some programs and have not collected data 
     on how well the programs are working.

  At best, we have created a masterpiece of mediocrity. But I think it 
is much worse. Government has trivialized what it has professed to 
esteem, specifically family and work. The welfare system which was 
designed to protect children has failed to consider the consequence of 
idleness.
  Thirty years of experience have ratified what many of us have known 
all along--Government programs and our welfare system cannot replace 
stable families. Perhaps the greatest mistakes the Federal Government 
has made during this period is to act as if family life can be reduced 
to a mathematical diagram and that the wisdom of Solomon can be 
reproduced in the Federal Register.
  The moment to truly change our welfare system is here and now. It has 
been said that the first act of common sense is to recognize the 
difference between a cloud and a mountain. It is time to recognize that 
the system created to end poverty has helped to bring more poverty. It 
is time to recognize that the cost of the system is excessive and 
wasteful. The American people clearly see that Washington has failed. 
And it is time we act accordingly.
  True reform has been quietly evolving in the States. Our objectives 
should be to unleash the latent creativity of these States. We need to 
test new approaches, to experiment with new methods that seek to 
address the varying conditions to be found in our 50 States. That is 
what the Dole-Packwood bill does, and I urge my colleagues to support 
it.
  Mr. PACKWOOD. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Frist). The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Packwood). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. FRIST. I thank the Chair.
  My fellow colleagues, it has been 30 years since President Lyndon 
Johnson launched his unconditional War on Poverty. One overriding fact 
remains, the War on Poverty has failed. In welfare, as in most 
government policies, you get what you pay for.
  For 30 years, the welfare system has paid for nonwork and nonmarriage 
and has achieved massive increases in both. By undermining the work 
ethic and rewarding illegitimacy, the problems of the poor and the 
inner city have actually gotten worse, not better, in the subsequent 
years. Not only are there more people living in poverty today than ever 
before but, thanks to welfare, whole generations of Americans have 
lived and died without every owning a home, holding down a steady job, 
or knowing the love and support of both a mother and a father.
  This failure is not due to a lack of Government spending. In 1993, 
Federal, State, and local governments spent $324 billion on means-
tested welfare programs for low-income Americans. To date, welfare now 
absorbs 5 percent of the gross domestic product, up from 1.5 in 1965 
when the War on Poverty began. According to Congressional Budget Office 
figures, total annual welfare spending will rise to nearly $500 billion 
and 6 percent of gross domestic product by 1998.
  Though President Johnson declared that ``the days of the dole are 
numbered,'' welfare now involves an ever-expanding share of the 
population. Today nearly one out of seven American children is enrolled 
in aid to families with dependent children [AFDC], with Uncle Sam's 
welfare check serving as a surrogate father. About half of the children 
currently on AFDC will remain on welfare for over 10 years.
  The core problem behind this growth is that the current welfare 
system promotes self-destructive behavior: non-work, illegitimacy, and 
divorce. Mr. President, in my practice as a heart transplant surgeon in 
Tennessee, I witnessed the effects of our misguided welfare system 
every day.
  One out of three of my patients was below the poverty level. Some 
tried, but couldn't get a job. Some didn't want to work. But almost all 
felt trapped by the current welfare system which pulls families apart.
  Caring for these individuals, I heard the same stories, again and 
again. Young teenage mothers would explain that the Government would 
pay them $50 more a month if they moved out of their parents' home, 
away from their family and away from the only support system they had 
to pull themselves out of the welfare trap.
  Mr. President, we must act now to reverse this disintegration and 
destruction of the American family. We cannot afford to pass on the 
opportunity to put forward a proposal that will end 

[[Page S 11805]]
the generational cycles of welfare dependence. The American people 
elected us to do the very thing we are now trying to do.
  They asked us to return control of their lives and their government 
to local communities.
  They asked us to spend their money wisely.
  They asked us to create a system of mutual responsibility in which 
welfare recipients would be granted aid but would be required to 
contribute something back to society for assistance given.
  They asked us to change incentives, and create a welfare system that 
promotes work, that reduces illegitimacy, that strengthens families, 
and that provides an opportunity for all Americans to succeed.
  Mr. President, I believe the Dole substitute amendment, No. 2280, 
goes a long way toward doing what the American people have asked us to 
do.
  It consolidates AFDC cash benefits, JOBS, and related child care 
programs into a capped block grant to States and gives States a large 
degree of flexibility to address their unique problems. The Dole 
substitute also requires a 30-percent reduction in Federal staff 
currently administering AFDC and the JOBS Program. By consolidating 
programs, we can reduce the costs of bureaucracy and get the money to 
our children.
  The Dole substitute requires able-bodied adult welfare recipients to 
work. Welfare recipients will no longer be able to avoid work by moving 
from one job training program to the next. They must begin work no 
later than 2 years after getting on the rolls and cannot receive 
benefits for more than 5 years.
  Finally, it contains several provisions designed to strengthen 
families and require personal responsibility. States can deny cash 
payments to teenage mothers and place family caps on cash assistance. 
Single teen parents must stay in school and live under adult 
supervision. And deadbeat parents will face financial penalties and 
tough sanctions, including the loss of drivers and professional 
licenses.
  Mr. President, a number of amendments will be offered this week which 
can strengthen the Dole substitute.
  For example, I believe a welfare bill should include a pay-for-
performance work requirement, so that there is a proportional reduction 
in benefits for work missed by a welfare recipient--no work, no 
benefits.
  I would support an amendment to reward Governors for their efforts in 
reducing illegitimacy rates within their States.
  And we should strengthen the requirements that unwed mothers 
establish the paternity of their children in order to get benefits.
  Mr. President, we have a chance to make history here this week. We 
have the opportunity to regroup, to restructure, and to find new ways 
of helping those in need.
  Those of us who are committed to change have behind us the full force 
of the American people. Those who argue against those changes have 
nothing on their side but the dismal history of the past 30 years.
  Mr. President, I thank the Chair and yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Frist). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. DASCHLE. I wish the Presiding Officer a good morning. Mr. 
President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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