[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 77 (Thursday, May 30, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H5651]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE PRESIDENT ON WELFARE REFORM

  (Mr. CHABOT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, here is a quote from Tuesday's Washington 
Times editorial on welfare reform:

       Knowing the salience that welfare reform has with the 
     electorate, the President desperately wants to be seen as 
     leading the reform effort that he has actually been 
     sabotaging.

  The Times is right. Bill Clinton campaigned on a promise to, 
remember, end welfare as we know it. Of course he vetoed welfare reform 
twice. Bill Clinton has also dragged his feet on granting waivers to 
the States that would allow them to fix the welfare mess in those 
States. The White House has denied waivers to Illinois and 
Massachusetts and Wyoming. Those States waited up to 20 months to be 
notified of their denial. Just ridiculous.
  The States should not have to crawl to Washington on bended knee to 
get permission to do the right thing for their own people.
  When it comes to reforming welfare, despite talk about the end of the 
era of big government, Bill Clinton apparently still believes that big 
government knows best.

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