[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 2 (Thursday, January 4, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E20]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 4, PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY AND WORK 
                        OPPORTUNITY ACT OF 1995

                                 ______


                               speech of

                        HON. PETER G. TORKILDSEN

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 21, 1995

  Mr. TORKILDSEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to strongly support this 
compromise legislation. I voted against the original House-passed 
welfare package, and received a fair amount of criticism for it. But 
that original package needed to be changed, especially in two key 
areas.
  The original bill attempted to turn child nutrition programs, such as 
school lunch and WIC, into block grants. Additionally, it completely 
eliminated the social safety net for legal immigrants.
  The Senate-House compromise bill addresses these concerns in this 
final bill. Specifically, the nutrition block-grant proposal has been 
eliminated: WIC will continue to be a separately funded program, one 
that works well in providing early childhood nutrition and education 
for both children and their parents.
  The compromise bill will also continue to allow legal immigrants to 
receive benefits that their tax dollars pay for. While States will have 
to agree, the language in the compromise bill is a substantial 
improvement over the original language.
  This welfare reform bill also includes the strongest child support 
enforcement provisions ever enacted by the Federal Government.
  Child support checks often mean the difference between self-
sufficiency and dependency on welfare. With this bill, we are sending a 
clear message that it is never acceptable to abandon your children, and 
if you do, the penalties will be severe.
  I am proud to have sponsored a provision in this bill that will 
prevent parents from hiding assets in other States, while neglecting to 
pay the child support payments they are legally, and morally, required 
to make. My provision will allow a custodial parent to place a lien on 
a delinquent parent's asset, without having to travel from State to 
State. In this provision, property liens will be given ``full faith and 
credit'' in every State, forcing parents to meet their moral and 
financial responsibilities.
  The Personal Responsibility Act gives States and localities the 
necessary flexibility to implement innovative approaches to serving 
those in need. States will have the option to choose from a number of 
policy suggestions set forth in this bill, including requiring mothers 
under 18 to attend school and live with an adult, and denying 
additional cash benefits to those mothers who have children while 
receiving benefits. The Governor of my home State, Bill Weld, has a 
bold welfare reform plan which cannot be fully implemented, until this 
bill becomes law.
  This bill represents the end of welfare as we know it. People trapped 
in the current system will be given encouragement and assistance in 
obtaining jobs and education. It will prevent abuse of the welfare 
system, by placing a lifetime limit on benefits. Welfare was never 
meant to be a way of life. This bill returns welfare to the short-term 
assistance plan it was always meant to be.
  I urge the President to fulfill his campaign pledge to ``end welfare 
as we know it'' by signing this bill. Without these reforms, the cycle 
of poverty that has afflicted so many for the past three decades will 
only continue. This compromise is a win for children, a win for those 
trapped in a failed system, and a win for taxpayers.

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