[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 143 (Thursday, September 14, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S13578]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                REPEATING A MISBEGOTTEN AND SHAMEFUL ERA

  Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, as we contemplate the compromise by 
which we can agree to end the entitlement under the Social Security 
Act, title IV-A for States to receive a share of the costs for 
providing for dependent children, I would like to share simply for the 
Record a portion of a letter from Irwin Garfinkel, Alfred Kahn, and 
Sheila Kamerman of the Columbia University School of Social Work who 
are so concerned with what we may be doing here, and they write:

       As we are sure you know, a similar madness pervaded the 
     nation at the close of the 19th century. Then, of course, 
     relief policy was--aside from Civil War veterans and their 
     survivors--strictly a state, and in practice, mostly a local 
     responsibility. As a consequence of the severe cutback in 
     relief--

  And here I interpolate that the Charity Organization Society managed 
to get hold of the effective control of local private agencies in many 
parts of the country.

     as a consequence of the severe cutback in relief, we began 
     sending large numbers of children of single mothers to 
     orphanages. The children were referred to as half-orphans. In 
     reaction, 40 states established mothers pensions, the 
     forerunner of ADC. Though we take some comfort from the 
     reaction, our hope--that 100 years later the Nation might be 
     spared another such misbegotten and shameful era before 
     regaining its senses--grow dim.

  I will just repeat that:

       . . . our hope--that 100 years later the Nation might be 
     spared another such misbegotten and shameful era before 
     regaining its senses--grow dim.

  I will say, Mr. President, that what happened in 1935 was that the 
State mothers' pensions were increasingly difficult for the State 
governments to maintain, and so they were taken over under the title 
IV-A, Aid to Dependent Children, which was just children at that time.
  In 1939, the mother was entitled to a benefit, and it became aid to 
families with dependent children, the program we are evidently intent 
upon abolishing and repeating ``a misbegotten and shameful era.''
  Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Faircloth). The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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