[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 82 (Thursday, June 6, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H5940]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             WELFARE REFORM

  (Mr. CHABOT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, today, once again, we will try to take the 
President at his word on welfare reform. Only 3 weeks ago President 
Clinton endorsed the Wisconsin works plan which substitutes work and 
responsibility for dependence and despair. It was adopted by sweeping 
bipartisan majorities in the Wisconsin State Legislature. Yet Federal 
roadblocks still prevent that plan from going into effect.
  President Clinton said he endorsed the plan just a couple of weeks 
ago. He said we should get it done. Now we get hemming and hawing from 
the administration. In fact, some administration officials signaled 
that the President did not mean what he said. But maybe they are not 
being fair to their boss.
  The cynics point this out, after saying that he wanted to end welfare 
as we know it, remember that, the President vetoed welfare reform. Then 
he vetoed it again. The cynics say that we have to be a bit skeptical 
of the President's words. But heck with those cynics.
  Mr. Speaker, let us give the President what he says he wants and what 
the people of Wisconsin really do want. To quote the President, ``We 
should get it done.''
  Let us overhaul the terrible welfare system that we have in this 
country and let us do it in Wisconsin for the folks there who want to 
overhaul the welfare system.

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