[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 77 (Thursday, May 30, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H5654]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                WELFARE SYSTEM NEEDS GREATER FLEXIBILITY

  (Mr. KINGSTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, let me tell my colleagues about Sue and 
Sally Jones; real people, fake names, Sue is 18 years old. She has a 
baby. Her sister, Sally, is 15 years old. She does not have any 
children. She is in the 8th grade; should be in the 10th grade. Sue is 
a 10th grader who should be a senior.
  Mr. Speaker, they do not live with their biological dad, because he 
was killed when they were toddlers. They live their biological mother's 
common-law husband, but the biological mother does not live at home 
anymore because she is a crack addict. One day she threw ash in her 
live-in husband's eyes, and he is disabled and cannot work.
  They have a brother but not by the same biological father. He is in 
jail. This is a real family, but the caseworker in Savannah tells me 
that he thinks he can get both of these ladies off of the Government's 
welfare system and into the socioeconomic mainstream; but he needs 
flexibility.
  Mr. Speaker, right now in our rigid, Washington-dictated welfare 
system one person has to work on their child care needs, one on the 
food needs, and one on the health care needs. Somebody else has to work 
on transportation, someone else on education.
  Mr. Speaker, I tell my colleagues, these girls cannot get out of the 
poverty trap with a system like this. They need flexibility. The 
caseworker needs flexibility, and that is why we need to support 
Medicaid and welfare State grants.

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