[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 77 (Thursday, May 30, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H5736-H5737]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TAKE POLITICS OUT OF WELFARE REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Obey] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, in my view, welfare reform is one of the most 
serious problems facing this country. I do not honestly believe that 
the American people will have any confidence in the ability of their 
Government at any level until they are convinced that we can reform 
welfare, get rid of the existing dead-end system and create a real 
opportunity to move people from welfare to work. I think for that to 
occur, and I have been here quite awhile and I have seen previous 
welfare reform attempts fail because they become politicized, I think 
that if you want welfare reform, to succeed you have to have serious 
people trying to do serious things to work out serious disagreements 
and come to a serious compromise on how we approach the problem. That 
is what we ought to be doing.
  Instead, in my view, by scheduled this blatantly political proposal 
before the Congress next Tuesday, when no one is scheduled to be here, 
we are simply seeing a situation in which the majority party evidently 
is more interested in going after the President than they are in 
dealing seriously with welfare reform; at least that is my view.

                              {time}  2200

  If we were serious and if we really did want Wisconsin to receive the 
waivers that are being requested, then we would ask the President to, 
to the maximum extent possible, cooperate with Wisconsin in bringing 
about the acceptance of those waivers. That, in fact, is exactly what 
the President said when he was in Wisconsin, that he would work with 
Wisconsin to try to provide the waivers that were necessary.
  I would suggest, Mr. Speaker, that given the fact that the chief 
executive of the State of Wisconsin, Governor Thompson, exercised some 
90, I thought it was 79, I am now told it is 90 separate item vetoes on 
27 different subjects, it appears to me that the Governor used his 
brain and thought about some of the problems that he has thought were 
in the package that was passed by the legislature.
  It comes with considerable ill grace for anyone in this body to 
suggest that the President ought not be able to also use his brain and 
evaluate honestly whether or not this package measures up to the claims 
made for it by the Governor of the State of Wisconsin. If it does, the 
waivers should be granted. If it does not, the Federal Government ought 
to work with the State until those matters are worked out. That is what 
we would do if we were serious people.
  Mr. KLECZKA. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. OBEY. I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin.
  Mr. KLECZKA. Mr. Speaker, I think what is at issue here is under 
current law there is a 30-day comment period. Those members of the 
public who are interested in the proposal can come forward to either 
support or to oppose.
  In my office, I have received numerous letters and petitions from 
residents of the State of Wisconsin who watched the bill pass the State 
legislature, watched the Governor sign it, and now they want to have 
their say as to whether or not these 75, not 1, but 75 waivers, should 
be granted. Mr. Speaker, they run from soup to nuts.
  Even if the President supports this, and I cannot speak for him, nor 
can he speak for me, regardless, the law would

[[Page H5737]]

still provide that 30 days will be used for a comment period, and then 
the President can decide and the Secretary of HHS and everyone else. So 
that is what we are asking be done here.
  This is being foisted upon us on a day when the Congress is not in 
session. We have six bills up when Congress is not in session, this is 
the seventh, which has not even been printed yet. The purported 
offeror, the gentleman from Racine, Kenosha, he himself, when asked on 
the floor tonight, did not know himself what the waivers were all 
about. He is being used as some kind of pawn here. It is really sad 
what is going on. The only thing we are asking is let us let the people 
of Wisconsin, on an issue that greatly affects them, be heard. That is 
what they are asking me to provide for them.
  Mr. Speaker, this resolution, this action, cuts off the 30 days.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I would simply make the point that unless we 
give the people that 30-day waiver, this will be a supreme act of 
arrogance in which only politicians are allowed to voice their 
opinions.
  Mr. BARRETT of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. OBEY. I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin.
  Mr. BARRETT of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, welfare reform is a serious 
issue. The welfare reform of Wisconsin attempts to put people back to 
work, but that does not mean that people in Congress should stop doing 
our work. I think it would be a gross abdication of our 
responsibilities to, sight unseen, approve these waivers.
  I called Governor Thompson's office yesterday to get a copy of his 
waiver request. I still have not received it. If they are asking 435 
Members of Congress to vote on his waiver request, sight unseen, that 
is bad public policy. It shuts out the American people, and this 
Congress should debate this issue.

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