[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 76 (Wednesday, May 29, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H5572]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 WELFARE REFORM: THE WHITE HOUSE NEEDS TO LEAD, FOLLOW, OR GET OUT OF 
                                THE WAY

  (Mr. BALLENGER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BALLENGER. Madam Speaker, during the 1992 presidential campaign, 
candidate Clinton promised to end welfare as we know it. Not only has 
he not ended welfare as we know it, but he has acted as the protector 
and champion of welfare as we know it. This Republican-led Congress has 
sent the President a welfare bill based on commonsense reforms, and he 
vetoed it not once but twice. So much for ending welfare as we know it.
  Timed to undercut a speech by Senator Robert Dole, the President 
announced his support for Republican welfare reform planned by 
Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson. However, he failed to promise his 
signature on a waiver allowing the Governor's plan to go forward. Such 
a waiver, implementing these types of reform, would not be necessary if 
the President had signed the welfare reform legislation sent to him by 
the Republican-controlled Congress. Again, a great display of this 
President's skill at saying one thing and doing another.

                          ____________________