[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 13, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E337]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SPEAKER PRINGLE'S STRAIGHT TALK ON WELFARE REFORM
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HON. GEORGE P. RADANOVICH
of california
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, March 12, 1996
Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Speaker, President Clinton has talked a good game
on welfare reform, particularly when the cameras were focused on him
during the State of the Union Address. But his two vetoes of welfare
reform legislation speak much louder than his crowd-pleasing rhetoric.
As we, in Congress, continue to pursue an overhaul of the current
system, the California legislature has moved ahead with its own welfare
reform legislation, designed to restore work incentives and help people
on welfare become independent and productive citizens.
The speaker of the assembly, Curt Pringle, has been a leader in
California's welfare reform effort. In the March 4, Los Angeles Times,
Speaker Pringle correctly pointed out that President Clinton, far from
being a leader in welfare reform, is actually its major impediment.
California and the other States cannot reform their welfare programs
without Federal approval. If President Clinton had approved the
legislation sent to him by the 104th Congress, California would not
have to go through an extremely difficult and time-consuming Federal
waiver process in order to implement its own reforms. California could
be moving forward with its reforms right now.
Given the continued urgency of this issue, I would like to request
that Speaker Pringle's excellent commentary be entered into the Record
at this point.
[From the Los Angeles Times, March 4, 1996]
Clinton Isn't Doing California's Poor Any Favors
(By Curt Pringle)
President Clinton said, ``I believe we should ship
decision-making responsibility and resources from
bureaucracies in Washington to communities, to states and,
where we can, directly to individuals.'' When he makes
statements like that about welfare reform, does he seriously
expect us to believe him any more?
Since his campaign pledge in 1992 to end welfare, the
president has blocked every serious reform effort presented.
Last year he vetoed important congressional block grant
legislation, for which he had earlier indicated support,
which would have given state and local governments more
flexibility and control over reform efforts. And last week
before a Senate panel, Health and Human Services Secretary
Donna Shalala announced that the president will reject the
National Governors Assn.'s bipartisan plan to salvage welfare
reform this year.
The president's words of reform offer up hope, but his
actions betray us at our most desperate hour.
California, like so many states, is hurting. Our social
fabric is being ripped apart by federal welfare programs that
discourage work, deprive citizens of self-respect and
dignity, create long-term intergenerational dependency and
compromise the well-being of our children. After $5.4
trillion spent over the last 30 years for social welfare, we
now realize that the federal government's failed ``war on
poverty'' has actually been a war on the values of its own
citizens.
We must replace the welfare system in California
immediately, before we lose another generation of poor
children. Unfortunately, the Clinton administration is
standing in our way.
In July 1994, California passed common-sense ``family cap''
welfare reform legislation to end the perverse practice of
increasing payments to welfare recipients who have additional
children. This practice usurps the role of husbands and
drives men away from their families. But officials at the
federal Department of Health and Human Services have denied
the necessary federal waiver that would allow California to
implement its law.
Our citizens are being held hostage by the federal welfare
system, and there is nothing we can do about it.
How can we possibly move Californians into the work force
when federal welfare programs pay them the equivalent of
$11.59 an hour not to work? That's 270% more than they can
earn with a full-time, minimum-wage job. And how can we
discourage teenage girls from getting pregnant and dropping
out of school when Washington tells them that for as long as
they don't work, don't get married and don't live at home,
the government will provide them with free money, free food
and a free apartment?
We must take matters into our own hands. California will
soon pass the most sweeping welfare reform legislation in the
nation's history. The plan will replace the current welfare
system with temporary assistance that focuses on reuniting
broken families and moving the abled-bodied back into jobs.
The plan also removes disincentives to marriage, work and
self-responsibility by establishing flat grants, no higher
than minimum wage, that do not increase according to family
size. After all, it is unfair to tax low-income working
mothers whose wages are not based on family size and use the
money to subsidize welfare recipients who choose to have more
children. Fairness and self-reliance will be the cornerstones
of California's new welfare system.
But without federal approval, these reforms cannot be
implemented.
The president says that states must be given more
flexibility to do the things they want to without seeking
waivers. But by blocking reform efforts in Washington, the
president has proved again that he cannot be trusted.
California must be allowed to implement its welfare reform
measures without seeking waivers.
We will fight destructive federal welfare programs all the
way to the Supreme Court if necessary, until out citizens and
families can once again set their own course for opportunity.
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