[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 14 (Thursday, February 1, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H1144]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 BIPARTISAN SUPPORT FOR WELFARE REFORM

  (Mr. RIGGS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. RIGGS. Mr. Speaker, we all know that we cannot balance the budget 
without the political will to address and to reform a failed welfare 
system in America, yet the President, the same President who, as a 
candidate, promised to end welfare as we know it, vetoed the House-
Senate-passed welfare reform bill.
  The reason, ostensibly, is that the bill does not do enough to 
provide child care for working parents, particularly single mothers who 
many times struggle against heroic odds, to provide child care for 
their children. However, the American people should know that the bill 
the President vetoed provided $2 billion more for child care for 
working parents than current law, and $1 billion more than the bill 
that the Senate passed and the President praised last September.
  The President has a very simple choice. He can join us in reforming 
welfare on a bipartisan basis, or he can continue to pander to the left 
wing of his party.

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