[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 73 (Wednesday, May 22, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H5385-H5386]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  PRESIDENT CLINTON AND WELFARE REFORM

  (Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

[[Page H5386]]

  Mr. BARLETT of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, it is an election year, so 
President Clinton is campaigning as a born again conservative, but talk 
is cheap.
  Take welfare reform. In his Saturday radio address, the President 
said: ``Four years ago, I challenged America to end welfare as we know 
it.''
  Something funny happened to welfare reform after candidate Clinton 
became President Clinton. For 3 years--nothing. Then President Clinton 
vetoed comprehensive bipartisan welfare reform not once, but twice.
  The President bragged that he has approved 38 waivers for State 
welfare reform.
  The President neglected to mention that 27 States are still waiting 
for waivers or that the average wait for the President's approval is 
210 days.
  The President singled out Maryland's welfare reform for praise.
  The President forgot to say that Maryland's Governor Glendening 
boasted that his personal friendship with the President reduced the 
waiting period before Maryland's waiver was approved to only 6 months.
  It's outrageous for President Clinton to insist that Washington 
retain its grip on a failed national welfare system.

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